A long-tailed black-and-white corvid with iridescent blue-green wing flashes — Eurasian magpies are among the most-studied intelligent birds, while Australian magpies are renowned for spring swooping attacks on humans.
Two unrelated “magpies”
Despite the shared name, the Eurasian magpie and Australian magpie are not closely related:
- Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) — true corvid, related to crows and ravens.
- Australian magpie (Cracticus tibicen) — in family Artamidae (butcherbirds), unrelated to corvids despite similar appearance.
Australian colonists named the bird “magpie” because of the resemblance to the Eurasian magpie. The two share black-and-white plumage but have different ancestry, voices, and behaviors.
Mirror self-recognition
In 2008, Eurasian magpies became the first non-mammalian species documented to pass the mirror self-recognition test — a key marker of self-awareness. Magpies marked with paint on their breasts looked into mirrors and immediately attempted to remove the paint from their own bodies (rather than the mirror image), suggesting they recognized the reflection as themselves.
This finding pushed back the assumption that mirror self-recognition was limited to a few mammals (great apes, dolphins, elephants).
Australian swooping season
Australian magpies are notorious for swooping attacks on humans during spring breeding season (August-October in Australia). Males defending nests will dive at people who walk through their territory, sometimes drawing blood from the back of the head with claws or beak.
Some individuals memorize specific people they’ve identified as threats and target them across years. Others develop friendships with specific humans who feed them, never attacking those individuals.
The annual swooping season has become a national phenomenon — websites track active magpies, schools ask cyclists to wear special “magpie helmets,” and public health agencies issue advice.
”Magpie” in legend
Eurasian magpies feature in folklore across Europe:
- Britain — the rhyme “One for sorrow, two for joy” assigns meanings to numbers of magpies seen.
- France — magpies as ill omens.
- Italy and Russia — magpies as messenger birds.
The persistent reputation for stealing shiny objects is largely myth — controlled studies have shown magpies are actually wary of unfamiliar shiny objects, not attracted to them.
Find more birds by letter
Magpie starts with M and ends with E. Browse other birds along the same letter.
Birds that contain a letter from "Magpie":