Blue magpie

Blue magpie

We are delighted that Bettina Lange-Klein and her husband Otfried Klein † have taken on the sponsorship of the blue magpie.

The blue magpie or azure magpie(Cyanopica cyanus) belongs to the corvid family (Corvidae) and reaches a size of around 38 cm. It differs from our native magpie in its narrower body and shorter legs and beak. In addition, as its name suggests, its wings and tail are light blue in colour. The blue magpie is widespread in East Asia and Japan.
The habitat of the blue magpie is mainly open woodland. However, it can also be found in areas shaped by humans, such as parks and gardens or even sometimes in city centres.
The blue magpie is omnivorous and feeds on everything it can find. This includes insects and their larvae, spiders, other invertebrates and sometimes even carrion. Fruits, nuts and seeds make up the plant part of their diet. In their search for food, blue starlings often gather together in flocks of up to several hundred animals to find new feeding grounds.
The breeding season is between May and June. The nest is built from branches, leaves and animal hair at a height of around 15 metres, in which the female lays between 5 and 8 eggs. The female incubates the eggs alone for around 15 days until the young hatch. Both parents then take over the feeding again, sometimes even the children from the previous year. After around 16-19 days, the young fledge and leave the nest.
Due to its large distribution area and opportunistic lifestyle, the blue magpie is not yet acutely endangered. However, it is already extinct in parts of Japan because it is at a disadvantage compared to our magpie, which also occurs there.