The Eurasian Magpie, Pica pica, is closely related to its North America cousin, the Black-billed Magpie (Pica hudsonia). Some taxonomies consider the two to be the same species. Alternate names for the Eurasian Magpie include Common Magpie and European Magpie.
Eurasian Magpies live in parts of Europe, Asia, and northern Africa. They are not migratory.
The Eurasian Mapgie has a pied, or black-and-white, plumage, including a long black tail. Feathers on the tail and wings are a pretty iridescent which shines bronze, blue or green in different light.
The Eurasian Magpie is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2015 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend appears to be stable, and hence the species does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
Today, March 14, is traditionally celebrated as Pi Day -- because when the date is written 3/14, it represents the first three significant numbers of Pi. Pie day may be celebrated by eating pie, but since we like birds,... Read more »
This Saturday, March 14th, is Pi Day! This year Pi Day has an extra significance on 3/14/15 at 9:26:53 a.m. and p.m., with the date and time representing the first 10 digits of the digit π. This only happens every one hundred years, so celebrate this very special... Read more »
