Urocissa whiteheadi
Silhouette: Lip Kee Yap (vectorized by T. Michael Keesey) · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The white-winged magpie or Hainan magpie (Urocissa whiteheadi) is a passerine bird of the crow family, Corvidae. It is unusual among the members of its genus in that it is black and white, lacking the blue plumage other Urocissa magpies have. Thus, it is sometimes placed in its own monotypic genus, Cissopica, though it appears to have sufficient features to remain in the genus Urocissa. There are two subspecies, the nominate whiteheadi being found in Hainan and xanthomelana found in southern China, northern Vietnam, and north and central Laos. The two subspecies are distinctive and may merit specific status; further research is needed.
The binomial commemorates the British explorer John Whitehead. Urocissa whiteheadi at the Internet Bird Collection Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cuc Phuong National Park | 🇻🇳 Vietnam |
More parks will be added in future updates.
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a White-winged Magpie sighting in Cuc Phuong National Park on a given day, based on 71 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 39th most-seen of the 159 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
August
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a White-winged Magpie in Cuc Phuong National Park on a given day, against about 10% in September and October, the lowest months. That is one of Cuc Phuong National Park's wettest months, with about 390 mm of rain against 40 mm in December. July has too few records to rate.
Between 3 and 6 am
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most White-winged Magpie sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is most active around dawn and dusk.
Only Cuc Phuong National Park, in our data
Cuc Phuong National Park is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate White-winged Magpie sightings: about 20% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.
Same family: Corvidae
The closest relatives of the White-winged Magpie that you can see in Cuc Phuong National Park (family Corvidae, Crows, Jays, and Magpies) are Ratchet-tailed Treepie (about 10%) and Racket-tailed Treepie (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the White-winged Magpie is recorded against all the birds logged in Cuc Phuong National Park (71 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
