Maghreb Magpie vs Oriental Magpie

Maghreb Magpie

Pica mauritanica

Medium217 gUrban

The Maghreb magpie is around 48 cm long, similar in plumage to the widespread Eurasian magpie, but with the distinct patch of vivid blue bare skin behind the eye and on the lower eye lid. The white patch on the scapular ('shoulder') feathers is smaller (though not as small as in the Asir magpie of Arabia), as is the white belly patch. The blue skin around the eye is not entirely unique, as it is also recorded occasionally in the Iberian subspecies of the Eurasian magpie Pica pica melanotos, particularly in southern Spain.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Adi Peter · CC BY 4.0

Oriental Magpie

Pica serica

218 gUrban

It is 45 cm long. Compared to the Eurasian magpie, it is slightly smaller, with a proportionally shorter tail and longer bill and tarsi (lower legs), and darker with less white in the plumage. The back, tail, and particularly the remiges show (according to source) either bluer, less green iridescence compared to Eurasian magpie, or conversely, more green. The rump plumage is mostly black, with narrow, often greyish-white band, which connects the white shoulder patches as in its relatives. The Oriental magpie has the same call as the Eurasian magpie, though somewhat softer.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Vladislav Isaev · CC BY 4.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Maghreb Magpie and Oriental Magpie.