Listen to the Eurasian magpie
Tip: press play to see the sound's live frequency spectrum in blue over the waveform.
About the Eurasian magpie
The Eurasian magpie is a bird in the family Corvidae (order Passeriformes). Its conservation status on the IUCN Red List is “least concern”. Adults have a wingspan of about 56 cm and weigh around 191 g.
What does the Eurasian magpie sound like?
Bird vocalisations are usually divided into songs – longer, often complex phrases used to defend territory and attract mates, sung mostly by males in the breeding season – and calls: short, simple sounds for contact, alarm, begging or flight.
The recordings here are labelled as pica pica and call. Listen for differences in rhythm, pitch and repetition – the spectrum display makes it easy to see whether a sound is a pure whistle (a thin line), a harsh call (a broad band) or a trill (rapid repeated marks).
From Wikipedia
The Eurasian magpie or common magpie (Pica pica) is a resident breeding bird throughout the northern part of the Eurasian continent. It is one of several birds in the crow family (corvids) that are designated as magpies, and it belongs to the Holarctic radiation of "monochrome" magpies. In Europe, the term "magpie" is used by English speakers as a synonym for the Eurasian magpie; the only other species of magpie in Europe being the Iberian magpie (Cyanopica cooki), which is restricted to the Iberian Peninsula. Despite sharing a name and similar colouration, they are not closely related to the Australian magpie, which is an artamid, only sharing the same clade (Corvides).
The Eurasian magpie is one of the most intelligent birds. The expansion of its nidopallium is approximately the same in its relative size as the brains of chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and humans. It is one of the few bird species known to pass the mirror test.
Related birds in the genus Pica
More from the family Corvidae
Common raven
Corvus corax
Eurasian jay
Garrulus glandarius
Western jackdaw
Coloeus monedula
Rook
Corvus frugilegus
Hooded crow
Corvus cornix
Carrion crow
Corvus corone
Northern nutcracker
Nucifraga caryocatactes
Blue jay
Cyanocitta cristata
Alpine chough
Pyrrhocorax graculus
Red-billed chough
Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
House crow
Corvus splendens
Frequently asked questions
What does an Eurasian magpie sound like?
You can hear 6 recordings of the Eurasian magpie on this page, including its pica pica and call. Bird vocalisations are usually divided into songs – longer, often complex phrases used to defend territory and attract mates, sung mostly by males in the breeding season – and calls: short, simple sounds for contact, alarm, begging or flight.
Is the Eurasian magpie endangered?
The IUCN Red List classifies the Eurasian magpie as “least concern”.
What family does the Eurasian magpie belong to?
The Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) belongs to the family Corvidae in the order Passeriformes.
Sources & credits
- Eurasian Magpie (Pica pica) (W1CDR0001537 BD28) – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Pica pica by Oona Räisänen ( Mysid ) – Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
- Call · Fontaine-le-Comte, Vienne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France by Benoît Van Hecke – CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Pica pica-2015-6-12-part2 by Spyros Papanastasiou – CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Pica pica-2015.6.11-part 6 by Spyros Papanastasiou – CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Pica pica-2015.6.11-part 4 by Spyros Papanastasiou – CC0 1.0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Wikidata Q25307 – CC0
- Wikipedia: Eurasian magpie – CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo by Alexis Lours – CC BY 4.0