Grallina cyanoleuca
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
The magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca), also known as wee magpie, peewee, peewit, mudlark or Murray magpie, is a passerine bird native to Australia, Timor, and southern New Guinea. The male and female both have black and white plumage, though with different patterns. John Latham described the species in 1801. Long thought to be a member of the mudnest builder family Corcoracidae, it has been reclassified in the family Monarchidae (the monarch flycatchers). Two subspecies are recognized.
The magpie-lark was originally described by the English ornithologist John Latham in the genus Corvus in 1801 (as Corvus cyanoleucus). Its species name is derived from the Ancient Greek words cyanos "dark blue" and leukos "white" despite the black and white plumage. However, there can be a bluish sheen to the black back. In the same publication, Latham described the same species as Gracula picata. In 1843, Hugh Edwin Strickland proposed using the second name as it was the more accurate, resulting in Grallina picata. Formerly, some authorities have classified the magpie-lark as belonging to a genus of bee-eaters, Merops.
Latham gave the species the common names of blue and... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hattah-Kulkyne National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Kakadu National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 4 | Nitmiluk National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 5 | Litchfield National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 6 | Flinders Ranges National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 7 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 8 | Kosciuszko National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 9 | Noosa National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 10 | Great Otway National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 11 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 12 | Daintree National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 13 | Booderee National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 14 | Wilsons Promontory National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 15 | Flinders Chase | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 16 | Grampians National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 17 | Ningaloo Marine Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 18 | Rottnest Island | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 19 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 20 | Cape Range | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 21 | Lamington National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australian Reptile Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Birdworld Kuranda | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Kuranda Koala Gardens | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Magpie-lark sighting in Royal National Park on a given day, based on 418 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 50th most-seen of the 178 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 30% of wildlife watchers report a Magpie-lark in Royal National Park on a given day, against about 10% in June and October, the lowest months. That is one of Royal National Park's driest months, with about 50 mm of rain against 150 mm in March.
Between 11 am and 2 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Magpie-lark sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
11th of 21
Of the 21 parks where we can rate Magpie-lark sightings, Royal National Park ranks 11th at about 20%. The best odds are in Hattah-Kulkyne National Park (Australia, about 50%), Kakadu National Park (Australia, about 40%) and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park (Australia, about 40%). All parks ranked.
Same family: Monarchidae
The closest relatives of the Magpie-lark that you can see in Royal National Park (family Monarchidae, Monarch Flycatchers) are Black-faced Monarch (about 20%) and Leaden Flycatcher (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Magpie-lark is recorded against all the birds logged in Royal National Park (418 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.
