Iberian magpie

The Iberian magpie (Cyanopica cooki) is a bird in the crow family. It is 31–35 cm long and similar in overall shape to the Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) but is more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. It belongs to the genus Cyanopica.

Other common names include Iberian azure-winged magpie, Cook’s azure-winged magpie and Spanish azure-winged magpie.

It has a glossy black top to the head and a white throat. The underparts and the back are a light grey-fawn in colour with the wings and the feathers of the long (16–20 cm) tail are an azure blue. It inhabits various types of coniferous (mainly pine) and broadleaf forest, including parks and gardens in the eastern populations.

Distribution and habitat

The Iberian magpie occurs in southwestern and central parts of the Iberian Peninsula, in Spain and Portugal. This taxon is usually treated as conspecific with azure-winged magpie C. cyana, but this population is 9,000 km away from those in eastern Asia. Recent genetic analysis has shown that the Iberian magpie and the azure-winged magpie are distinct at species level.