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  Profile

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  In flight

Clever Corvids

Eurasian Magpie

Pica pica

• common
• 32 km/h
• Starter
• Least Concern

One of the smartest birds alive. Might read your message before delivering it.

Population

64,300,000–104,000,000 mature individuals globally (stable trend); European breeding population ~7.5–19 million pairs

Habitat

Open countryside with scattered trees, farmland, hedgerows, parkland, and suburban/urban areas including gardens and city parks; found from sea level up to ~3,200 m elevation

Fun fact

The Eurasian Magpie is one of only a handful of non-mammal species shown to recognize itself in a mirror, a mark of the advanced cognition tied to its unusually large nidopallium (a brain region proportionally similar in relative size to that of chimpanzees).

Range

Widespread, non-migratory resident across temperate Eurasia, from Portugal, Spain, and Ireland in the west across Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia to the Kamchatka Peninsula/Sea of Okhotsk region and Japan in the east

Diet

Omnivorous: insects and invertebrates, small mammals, young birds and eggs, carrion, acorns, grain, and other plant/vegetable matter and food scraps

Size

0.45 m

Wingspan

0.57 m

Lifespan

21 years