Pica serica
Silhouette: T. Michael Keesey · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The Oriental magpie (Pica serica) is a species of magpie found from southeastern Russia to eastern China, Korea, Taiwan, and northern Indochina and Myanmar. It is also naturalised in Japan. Other names include Korean magpie, Chinese magpie and Asian magpie. The scientific name serica means "silky [texture]" or "Chinese"; this is the original spelling, though sometimes erroneously "corrected" to sericea.
Like the other magpies, the Oriental magpie is a member of the large radiation of mainly Holarctic corvids, which also includes the typical crows and ravens (Corvus), the nutcrackers (Nucifraga), and the Old World jays. The long tail might be plesiomorphic for this group, as it is also found in the tropical Asian magpies (Cissa and Urocissa) as well as in most of the very basal corvids, such as the treepies. The unique black-and-white pattern of the "monochrome" magpies is an autapomorphy.
The Oriental magpie was first described as a species, based on specimens collected in Amoy (now Xiamen) in southeastern China in 1844. Due to its similarity to the Eurasian magpie in plumage, it was reduced to a synonym of it by Richard Bowdler Sharpe in 1877, and then... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beijing Wildlife Park | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Shanghai Zoo | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | Macau Zoo | 🇲🇴 Macao SAR China |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report an Oriental Magpie sighting in Xi'an on a given day, based on 56 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 7th most-seen of the 49 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
November
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report an Oriental Magpie in Xi'an on a given day, against about 30% in September, the lowest month. That is one of Xi'an's driest months, with about 25 mm of rain against 130 mm in September. February and August have too few records to rate.
Between 2 and 5 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Oriental Magpie sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
23rd of 47
Of the 47 cities where we can rate Oriental Magpie sightings, Xi'an ranks 23rd at about 60%. The best odds are in Shijiazhuang (China, over 90%), Gwangju (South Korea, over 90%) and Seoul (South Korea, about 90%).
Same family: Corvidae
The closest relatives of the Oriental Magpie that you can see in Xi'an (family Corvidae, Crows, Jays, and Magpies) are Azure-winged Magpie (about 90%) 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 Oriental Magpie is recorded against all the birds logged in Xi'an (56 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.
