📸 PhotoPhoto: Анар Өгөөмөр · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons Source
Azure-winged Magpie
Cyanopica cyanus (Azure-winged Magpie · オナガ)
💡 Everyday Comparisons for Size, Mass & Speed
- 💡 Even in city parks, it can be seen moving about in small flocks of 5–10 birds (National List of Species of Korea).
- 💡 Its body length of 37 cm is about 7 cm longer than a 30 cm ruler (Comparison).
Reference standards: coach bus ~12 m, mid-size car ~4.9 m, compact car ~1 t, basketball hoop 3.05 m, credit card 8.56 cm.
📖 1. Overview
The azure-winged magpie is a crow-family bird with pale blue wings and a long tail; it is a common resident across the Korean Peninsula that always moves in flocks.
🦴 2. Anatomy & Morphology
Its head is black, its back is grey, its chin, cheeks, and throat are white, and its wings and wedge-shaped tail are pale blue. Its bill and legs are black.
🔍 3. Ecology & Behavior
An omnivore that eats both animal and plant food, it especially favors insects. Even in the breeding season it nests in colonies, building bowl-shaped nests of dry twigs, moss, grass roots, and mud on branches 2–6 m high and laying 6–9 eggs.
🇰🇷 4. Connection to Korea
According to the National List of Species of Korea, it is a common resident distributed nationwide and also lives in urban parks.
📚 Sources & References
- • IUCN Red List LC (2025) — https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/103721987/280896956
- • IUCN Red List category LC — latest assessment at iucnredlist.org
- • doi.org — avilist.v2026
- • iucnredlist.org — 280896956
- • 국가생물종목록(국립생물자원관) ktsn 120000001956 — https://species.nibr.go.kr/home/mainHome.do?cont_link=009&subMenu=009002&contCd=009002&ktsn=120000001956
- • wikidata.org — Q503807
- • commons.wikimedia.org — File:ANR00921(cropped).jpg
- • species.nibr.go.kr — mainHome.do
- • Silhouette: PhyloPic — T. Michael Keesey (from a mount by Allis Markham) · CC BY 3.0
Recorded dimensions are widely cited representative estimates from public literature and may vary by study or specimen.