

Profile

In flight
Clever Corvids
Australian Magpie
Gymnorhina tibicen (some taxonomies place it as Cracticus tibicen)
- rare
- 46 km/h
- Least Concern
Carolling song is one of the most complex in the world. Remembers human faces for years, and holds grudges.
- Population
- No precise global figure published; BirdLife/IUCN describe it as common to abundant in coastal and agricultural areas, sparse in the arid interior, with a suspected increasing population trend
- Habitat
- Open habitats with scattered trees — grassland, farmland, parks, gardens, golf courses, and urban/suburban streets, typically near woodland edges
- Fun fact
- Australian Magpies can individually recognize at least 100 different human faces and are less likely to swoop people they've learned to be familiar with.
- Range
- Most of mainland Australia excluding the tip of Cape York and the Gibson/Great Sandy Deserts, and the Trans-Fly region of southern New Guinea; ABSENT from southwestern Tasmania (present elsewhere on the island). Introduced and established in New Zealand (now treated as a pest there) and in western Taveuni, Fiji.
- Diet
- Omnivorous ground forager taking invertebrates (earthworms, millipedes, snails, spiders, scorpions, insects), skinks, frogs, small birds, mice, carrion, and some plant matter (grain, tubers, figs, walnuts); notably able to safely eat toxic cane toads by flipping them over and eating only the underparts
- Size
- 0.4 m
- Wingspan
- 0.75 m
- Lifespan
- 25 years











