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Iberian Azure-winged Magpie, Rabilargo
Cyanopica cooki
40.7176, -3.87097
Field Notes
Description:
Bird in the crow family, 31–35 cm long and similar in overall shape to the European Magpie (Pica pica) but more slender with proportionately smaller legs and bill. 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 tail are an azure blue. It inhabits various types of coniferous (mainly pine) and broadleaf forest, including parks and gardens in the eastern populations.
Habitat:
It inhabits various types of coniferous (mainly pine) and broadleaf forest, including parks and gardens in the eastern populations.
Spotted in open mediterranean forest with Holm oak trees
Notes:
Usually treated as conspecific with C. cyanus. Because of peculiar global distribution of genus, with population in SW Europe (Iberia) separated by 9000 km from only other one (in E Asia), it was long speculated that Iberian population could have arisen from birds brought back by Portuguese merchants and sailors in 16th/17th centuries; fossilized remains of this species found recently in caves on Gibraltar, however, indicate that distribution natural, which suggests that the populations had been separated during last glaciation. Further, two independent DNA studies of genus indicated that the two forms diverged at least one million years ago, and should therefore be treated as two species. Birds of N part of interior Spain tend to be slightly larger and greyer than those of coastal areas, and could perhaps represent a geographical race (for which the name gili is available); overall variation is, however poorly defined. Treated as monotypic.
Camera Model: NIKON D300. Exposure Time: 1/400 sec.; f/10; ISO Speed Rating: 400. Focal Length: 300.0 mm.
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