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Eurasian Magpie
Pica pica
44.4906, 8.96764
Field Notes
Description:
This morning a group of magpies came to eat the food of our cats. It wasn't easy to photograph because they took one food at a time and led it away (perhaps in the nest?). They're playful, sometimes I see them gather pebbles in my garden, get them on the roof of the house and let them roll on the ground. Maybe someone will explain me this strange behavior.
The Eurasian Magpie is one of the most intelligent birds, and it is believed to be one of the most intelligent of all animals. The expansion of its nidopallium is approximately the same in its relative size as is found in chimpanzees, orangutans and humans.
The Eurasian Magpie is 44–46 centimetres (17–18 in) in length - in the adult over 50% of this is tail - and a wingspan of 52–62 centimetres (20–24 in). Its head, neck and breast are glossy black with a metallic green and violet sheen; the belly and scapulars (shoulder feathers) are pure white; the wings are black glossed with green or purple, and the primaries have white inner webs, conspicuous when the wing is open. The graduated tail is black, shot with bronze-green and other iridescent colours. The legs and bill are black.
The young resemble the adults, but are at first without much of the gloss on the sooty plumage. The male is slightly larger than the female
Habitat:
It is a resident breeding bird throughout Europe, much of Asia and northwest Africa. It is one of several birds in the crow family named as magpies, and belongs to the Holarctic radiation of "monochrome" magpies. In Europe, "Magpie" is used by English speakers as a synonym for the European Magpie; it is the only magpie in Europe outside the Iberian Peninsula.
Notes:
The Eurasian Magpie is believed to be among the most intelligent of birds, and among the most intelligent of all animals. Magpies have been observed engaging in elaborate social rituals, possibly including the expression of grief. Mirror self-recognition has been demonstrated in European magpies. The magpie is thus one of a small number of species, and the only non-mammal, known to possess this capability. The cognitive abilities of the Eurasian Magpie are taken as evidence that intelligence evolved independently in both corvids/crows and primates. This is indicated by feats such as tool use, their ability to hide and store food across seasons, episodic-like memory, and the ability to use one's own experience in predicting the behavior of conspecifics. Various behaviours have been observed that indicate intelligence. It has been observed that they cut up their food in correctly sized proportions, depending on the size of their young. In captivity magpies have been observed counting up to get food, imitating human voices, and regularly using tools to clean their own cages. In the wild, they organise themselves into gangs, and use complex strategies when hunting other birds, and when confronted by predators. Along with the Jackdaw, the Eurasian Magpie has been found to have a nidopallium approximately the same relative size as is found in chimpanzees and humans, and significantly larger than is found in the gibbon. Like other corvids, such as Ravens and Crows, their total brain to body ratio is equal to that of most great apes and cetaceans.
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