Gold-billed Magpie

About the Gold-billed Magpie

The yellow-billed blue-magpie, or gold-billed magpie (Urocissa flavirostris), is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, along with crows and jays. It forms a superspecies with the Taiwan blue magpie and the red-billed blue magpie. The species' range covers the northern parts of the Indian subcontinent, including the lower Himalayan foothills, with a disjunct population in Vietnam.

Length 66 cm (26 in), including tail of about 46 cm (18 in). Sexes alike. Head, neck, and breast black, with a white patch on the nape; remainder of lower plumage white, faintly tinged with lilac; whole upper plumage purplish-blue, brighter on the wings and tail; flight feathers tipped with white, along with white outermost wing feathers; tail long and graduated, with blue feathers tipped with white, except for the very long central pair which have a band of black in front of the white

The yellow-billed blue magpie is found throughout the Himalayas from Hazara to the Brahmaputra. It is divided into two sub-species. Of these, U. f. cucullata is the more common and is found from the Western boundary of the range to Western Nepal, being common through most of the hill stations... Wikipedia →