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Yellow-billed Blue Magpie

Crows, Drongos, Orioles & Shrikes

Photo: Shiv's fotografia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Urocissa flavirostris

Basic stats

Diet

Small mammals, eggs and young of other birds, insects, wild fruit and berries

Habitat

Forest; nests in the forks of trees in heavy foliage; breeds at 1,500–3,000m in the western form

Size

66cm, including a tail of about 46cm

The yellow-billed blue magpie, or gold-billed magpie, is a 66 cm crow-family bird including a tail of about 46 cm. It forms a superspecies with the Taiwan blue magpie and the red-billed blue magpie. The western form, cucullata, is found from the western end of the range to western Nepal and is common through most of the hill stations of the western Himalaya, breeding at 1,500–3,000 m; the eastern form, from eastern Nepal eastwards, has darker lilac-tinged underparts and seldom occurs below about 1,830 m (Wikipedia, general species account).

It is found throughout the Himalaya from Hazara to the Brahmaputra, with a disjunct population in Vietnam. It is primarily arboreal but often feeds on the ground, hopping with the tail held high, and eats small mammals, the eggs and young of other birds, insects and wild fruits and berries (Wikipedia, general species account).

Quick answers

What does the Yellow-billed Blue Magpie eat?
Small mammals, eggs and young of other birds, insects, wild fruit and berries
What habitat does the Yellow-billed Blue Magpie live in?
Forest; nests in the forks of trees in heavy foliage; breeds at 1,500–3,000m in the western form
How big is the Yellow-billed Blue Magpie?
66cm, including a tail of about 46cm
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