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Moulting magpie or hybrid with Hooded Crow? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Zheljko
- Start date
I,d say a juvenile magpie, I hear and see our regular pair of magpies in our neibours trees which have juveniles They have most of The Features of the adults but some features are lacking as in the plumage of the birds head in The photo which has not filled out Yet like a adult magpie.
Φ-Filippos
Active member
IMHO its a Magpie (Pica pica), just with a "light" head 
Probably a juvenile. I see many juveniles with such appearances here in Cyprus this time of year.
Probably a juvenile. I see many juveniles with such appearances here in Cyprus this time of year.
chris butterworth
aka The Person Named Above
Common Magpie. By the length of the tail it's an adult and the "strange" head is possibly down to feather loss due to a mite ( ? ) infestation.
Yes Magpie in moult, quite normal at this time of year.
Hybrids between corvidae are extremely rare, and have, as far as I know, never occurred between different taxa (eg Pica and Corvus).
Claims of hybrids between Pica pica and Corvus corone/cornix have invariably proved to be Hooded or Carrion Crows with whitish remiges/retrices (due to leucism or lack of nutrition during feather growth)
Peter
Hybrids between corvidae are extremely rare, and have, as far as I know, never occurred between different taxa (eg Pica and Corvus).
Claims of hybrids between Pica pica and Corvus corone/cornix have invariably proved to be Hooded or Carrion Crows with whitish remiges/retrices (due to leucism or lack of nutrition during feather growth)
Peter
stevethehydra
Well-known member
Yes, just a raggedy magpie... from the post preview (esp. the word "huge") I was wondering about an escaped one of the African species of "pied" crows/ravens!
I heard a claim of a Magpie/Jackdaw hybrid once, but there were no pictures of it (I suspect it was just a leucistic Jackdaw), or indeed any definite corvid hybrid other than Carrion x Hooded (which some people consider to be only subspecies rather than full species anyway). Also I think Magpies and Crows aren't particularly close together in the corvid family tree (oddly, Jays are closer to crows/ravens/jackdaws IIRC)...
I heard a claim of a Magpie/Jackdaw hybrid once, but there were no pictures of it (I suspect it was just a leucistic Jackdaw), or indeed any definite corvid hybrid other than Carrion x Hooded (which some people consider to be only subspecies rather than full species anyway). Also I think Magpies and Crows aren't particularly close together in the corvid family tree (oddly, Jays are closer to crows/ravens/jackdaws IIRC)...
Thank you all! The extent of white around "armpits" seemed rather excessive (as if it had black "hairs" on white background). The other magpie, which was further away, seemed to have these areas mostly black (I guess it is an older adult). I wish I could get them both in the photo, but this one actually approached me somewhat and they could not be in the same frame (they were all inside a city block on a lawn).
