Urocissa erythroryncha
Silhouette: Lip Kee Yap (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The red-billed blue magpie (Urocissa erythroryncha) is a species of bird (magpie) in the crow family, Corvidae. It is about the same size as the Eurasian magpie, but has a much longer tail, one of the longest of any corvid. It is 65–68 cm (25.5–27 in) long and weighs 196–232 g (6.9–8.2 oz).
The red-billed blue magpie was described by French polymath Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon in 1775 in his Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux. The bird was also illustrated in a hand-coloured plate engraved by François-Nicolas Martinet in the Planches Enluminées D'Histoire Naturelle which was produced under the supervision of Edme-Louis Daubenton to accompany Buffon's text. Neither the plate caption nor Buffon's description included a scientific name, but in 1783, Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert coined the binomial name Corvus erythrorynchus in his catalogue of the Planches Enluminées. The specimen described by Buffon had come from China, but the type location was restricted to Canton by Hugh Birckhead in 1937. The red-billed blue magpie is now one of five species placed in the genus Urocissa that was introduced by German ornithologist Jean Cabanis in 1850. The name of the genus... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jim Corbett National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 2 | Doi Inthanon National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 3 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 4 | Khao Yai National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand | |
| 5 | Kaeng Krachan National Park | 🇹🇭 Thailand |
Likely
About 50% of wildlife watchers report a Red-billed Blue Magpie sighting in Xi'an on a given day, based on 14 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 9th 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.
January
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Red-billed Blue Magpie in Xi'an on a given day, against about 10% in July–August and November, the lowest months. That is one of Xi'an's driest months, with about 10 mm of rain against 130 mm in September.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Red-billed Blue Magpie sightings with a recorded time, and about 7 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Among the best
Of the 21 cities where we can rate Red-billed Blue Magpie sightings, Xi'an ranks 2nd at about 50%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Hong Kong (China, about 50%).
Same family: Corvidae
The closest relatives of the Red-billed Blue Magpie that you can see in Xi'an (family Corvidae, Crows, Jays, and Magpies) are Azure-winged Magpie (about 90%) and Oriental Magpie (about 60%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Red-billed Blue Magpie is recorded against all the birds logged in Xi'an (14 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.
