Cyanopica cyanus
Silhouette: T. Michael Keesey (from a mount by Allis Markham) · PhyloPic
The azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) is a bird in the crow family. It is 31–35 cm long and similar in overall shape to the Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) but is more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. It has a glossy black top to the head and a white throat. The underparts and the back are a light grey-fawn in colour with the wings and the feathers of the long (16–20 cm) tail an azure blue. It inhabits various types of coniferous (mainly pine) and broadleaf forest, including parks and gardens in the eastern populations.
It occurs over a large region of eastern Asia in China, Korea, Japan, and north into Mongolia and southern Siberia. The Iberian magpie from southwestern and central parts of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain and Portugal was formerly thought to be conspecific, but recent genetic analysis has shown them to be distinct at species level, the white-tipped tail being a prominent indicator.
Often azure-winged magpies find food as a family group or several groups making flocks of up to 70 birds. The largest groups congregate after the breeding season and throughout the winter months. Their diet consists... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | San Diego Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 2 | Moscow Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 3 | Denver Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Tierpark Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Ostrava Zoo | 🇨🇿 Czechia | |
| 6 | Walsrode World Bird Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 7 | Zoo Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 8 | Beijing Wildlife Park | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 9 | Columbus Zoo and Aquarium | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 10 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 11 | Parc animalier de Sainte-Croix | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 12 | Chester Zoo | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 13 | Chongqing Zoo | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 14 | Louisville Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 15 | Novosibirsk Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 16 | Oklahoma City Zoo and Botanical Garden | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 17 | Kyiv Zoo | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | |
| 18 | Memphis Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 19 | Virginia Zoological Park | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 20 | Houston Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 21 | Philadelphia Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 22 | Zoo Atlanta | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 23 | Ueno Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 24 | Vogelpark Avifauna | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 25 | Inokashira Park Zoo | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 26 | Ueno Zoological Gardens (West Garden) | 🇯🇵 Japan | |
| 27 | Sacramento Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 28 | Tracy Aviary | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 29 | Ocean Park Hong Kong | 🇨🇳 China |
Very likely
About 90% of wildlife watchers report an Azure-winged Magpie sighting in Xi'an on a given day, based on 117 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the most-seen of the 49 birds we can rate there.
October and December
In those months over 90% of wildlife watchers report an Azure-winged Magpie in Xi'an on a given day, against about 70% in January, the lowest month. Those are among Xi'an's driest months, with about 35 mm of rain a month against 130 mm in September. February and August have too few records to rate.
Between 10 am and 1 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Azure-winged Magpie sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 40 cities where we can rate Azure-winged Magpie sightings, Xi'an ranks 2nd at about 90%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Hefei (China, about 90%).
Same family: Corvidae
The closest relatives of the Azure-winged Magpie that you can see in Xi'an (family Corvidae, Crows, Jays, and Magpies) are Oriental Magpie (about 60%) and Red-billed Blue Magpie (about 50%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Azure-winged Magpie is recorded against all the birds logged in Xi'an (117 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
