Magpie
| Irish Name: | Snag breac |
| Scientific name: | Pica pica |
| Bird Family: | Crows |
green
Conservation status
Conservation status
Status
Resident. One of Ireland's Top 20 most widespread garden birds.
Identification
A species of crow. All crows have sturdy legs and strong bills and are intelligent and social in nature. Very easy to tell apart from any other bird. Boldly marked in black and white with a very long tail. The head, chest, back and tail are black; the belly and flanks are white. Shows white outer wings which contrast strongly with black and white on the inner wings. Plumage can show a green or blue gloss depending on the light. Short, stout, black bill. Longish black legs which are used for both walking and bounding. Juvenile birds are very similar to adults but lack the long tail, which takes a while to grow. Flight is fluttering and direct. Noisy flocks, know as 'Magpie parliaments' can form.
Voice
Harsh and unmusical. Often repeated in alarm.
Diet
Takes a wide variety of food types, very opportunistic in its feeding habitats. Foods include invertebrates, fruits, seeds, small vertebrates, carrion, refuse, and scrapes. Will sometimes take the eggs and young of small birds. Feeds in a variety of situations including - pastures and cereals in farmland, parks and garden in urban situations, also visits bird tables, frequents water sides and
Breeding
Nests in trees in a large conical nest. Breeds in trees and woodlands, both coniferous and deciduous, in the countryside and also in urban areas. Magpies are found throughout the country in high densities, only on parts of the west coast are they less numerous.
Wintering
Wintering distribution is not substantially different from its breeding distribution.
Monitored by
Widespread and common resident.
Widespread and common resident.
Blog posts about this bird
Must Be the Season of the Corvid
Maybe it’s the Raven’s ominous ‘Nevermore’, the attacking crows in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, or the fact that a flock of crows is called a ‘murder' — no group of birds quite encapsulate Halloween like Corvids. Although Corvids don’t deserve the bad rap they are given, their curious behavior and haunting caws don’t help their case in the court of public opinion. Instead of feeling haunted by your neighborhood Magpie this spooky season, learn more about some of our common Irish Corvids and how to tell them apart.
As our largest songbird, Ravens are slightly larger than Buzzards. Adults show an all-black, glossy plumage with shaggy throat feathers. They have thick, black beaks that help their varied diet. Like other members of the crow family, Ravens are incredibly intelligent and have been known to engage in playful behaviour, such as flipping upside down with closed wings. They are social birds, and young Ravens can be found roosting together in large groups during the winter. In flight, they can be identified by their wedge-shaped tail. Bonus fact, Ravens often only have one mate for life!
Hooded Crows may be one of the easiest crows to identify, thanks to their unmistakable grey body and black head, throat, wings, and tail. These crows are also incredibly intelligent and have been recorded using crafty methods to crack open nuts, such as placing the nut on the road and waiting for a car to break the shell.
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And, of course, no Irish Corvid list would be complete without the Magpie. Unlike the other species listed above, Magpies have a splash of colour in their plumage. Their head, chest, back, and tail are black while their belly and flanks are white. In the right light, you can discern a green and blue gloss on their wings and tail. Juvenile birds are very similar to adults but lack the long tail, which takes a while to grow!
Raven
As our largest songbird, Ravens are slightly larger than Buzzards. Adults show an all-black, glossy plumage with shaggy throat feathers. They have thick, black beaks that help their varied diet. Like other members of the crow family, Ravens are incredibly intelligent and have been known to engage in playful behaviour, such as flipping upside down with closed wings. They are social birds, and young Ravens can be found roosting together in large groups during the winter. In flight, they can be identified by their wedge-shaped tail. Bonus fact, Ravens often only have one mate for life!
Raven
Rook
Besides being smaller than a Raven, a distinctive clue to identifying adult Rooks is the bare, pale base of the bill and shaggy feathers on the thighs that makes them appear to have trousers. Rooks are one of Ireland’s most common birds and can be seen across the island, nesting in noisy colonies called rookeries. When separating Hooded Crows and Rooks in flight, Rooks have faster and deeper wingbeats, which makes it look as if they are making more effort than the Hooded Crow.Hooded Crow
Hooded Crows may be one of the easiest crows to identify, thanks to their unmistakable grey body and black head, throat, wings, and tail. These crows are also incredibly intelligent and have been recorded using crafty methods to crack open nuts, such as placing the nut on the road and waiting for a car to break the shell.
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Hooded Crow
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Jackdaw
Smaller than the other species here, the Jackdaw has a short black bill and a pale, silvery eye. Like the Hooded Crow, Jackdaws have a black and grey contrast between the head and throat, but it is much less drastic. They are widespread across Ireland, but are less common in the mountainous areas of the west. During roosting season, Jackdaws can be found in the company of other crows, especially Rooks. They practically say their own name with the sharp 'chack' of their call.Magpie
And, of course, no Irish Corvid list would be complete without the Magpie. Unlike the other species listed above, Magpies have a splash of colour in their plumage. Their head, chest, back, and tail are black while their belly and flanks are white. In the right light, you can discern a green and blue gloss on their wings and tail. Juvenile birds are very similar to adults but lack the long tail, which takes a while to grow! 
Magpie
35th Irish Garden Bird Survey is ready to take flight
Birds inject a huge amount of joy into our lives, creating the soundtrack to spring mornings and brightening up our gardens on otherwise drab winter days.
As we approach what is widely considered the “season of giving”, one surefire way to give back to the birds for all that they do for us is to participate in this year’s Irish Garden Bird Survey – the most popular and longest-running citizen science survey in Ireland.
Last year, the Robin came out on top again in Irish gardens having been seen in 99% of gardens, though were pushed to second place by the Blackbird in counties Wicklow, Offaly, Kildare and Antrim. The mild weather over the majority of last winter meant that many species were similarly widespread as in previous winters. In addition to Robin and Blackbird, Blue Tits and Magpies both occurred in over 90% of Irish gardens, while Great Tit, Chaffinch, House Sparrow and Goldfinch were in over 80% of gardens. For House Sparrow, it was their second-best year on record, likely due to a bumper breeding season. The species is on the ‘Amber list’ of Birds of Conservation Concern, so this positive trend is to be welcomed.
Though the winter weather was mostly mild, there were a few short spells of snow which drove birds into gardens in higher numbers. The first species affected by this are often the birds in the thrush family, including our resident Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush, migrant Redwing from Iceland and Fieldfare from Scandinavia.
“Despite the temperatures being mild overall, we seem to be getting more storms and multiple short snowy spells in recent years, and these can be enough to deplete birds’ fat reserves and put them under real pressure. Song Thrush occurred in an extra 12% of gardens last year owing to the snowy weather” said Burke. “So, these are the times when your garden birds really need you to provide food and water, and if you can put these out a few days before any snow hits then you’re giving the birds a chance to realise it’s there, so they know exactly where to go when the ground freezes over.”
Some very rare species were spotted in small numbers in Ireland last winter such as Bramblings, Lesser Whitethroats, Black Redstarts, Snow Buntings and Ring-necked Parakeets.
35 years of the Irish Garden Bird Survey
Now in its 35th year, the Irish Garden Bird Survey grants people across the country the opportunity to serve as our eyes on the ground by observing and recording birds in their gardens, on school grounds, on their balconies, or within any other space they enjoy daily. All of this information gives us insight into how different species are faring and, in turn, helps us to identify current threats and future conservation priorities.
Blue Tit. Photo: Brian Burke.
The Irish Garden Bird Survey is perhaps our most simple and inclusive survey, one in which people of all ages, backgrounds and experience levels can play their part. In fact, it is so simple that, whether or not you have heard of the Irish Garden Bird Survey, it is likely that you are already doing the work. “The Irish Garden Bird Survey is something you can do with a cup of tea looking out the window. You can do it as you're washing the dishes or filling the kettle. People are always watching their garden birds during the winter anyway. That’s when the garden bird numbers peak. The birds are driven to gardens to look for food and people might be inside a lot more because the weather isn’t as good,” says Coordinator of the Irish Garden Bird Survey, Brian Burke. “As we always tell people, you are probably doing this anyway. We just are asking you to go that extra step by writing down and sending us what you see.” While participating in the Irish Garden Bird Survey does not take a lot of time or effort, the impact of the data collected by participants over the past 35 years has been huge. Thanks to them, we now know that Robins, Blackbirds and Blue Tits are the most common garden bird species in Ireland. We know that species such as Great Spotted Woodpecker are on the rise. We know that the breeding Greenfinch numbers have plummeted by 48 per cent in recent years, a loss that can be almost entirely linked to trichomoniasis – a fatal disease caused by a microscopic parasite which predominantly affects finches.2022/ 2023 Irish Garden Bird Survey Results
While there is some consistency in terms of what species are most common, cold winter weather, autumn food supplies, and the success of the summer breeding season just gone all play a part in what birds arrive in Irish gardens at this time of year.
Last year, the Robin came out on top again in Irish gardens having been seen in 99% of gardens, though were pushed to second place by the Blackbird in counties Wicklow, Offaly, Kildare and Antrim. The mild weather over the majority of last winter meant that many species were similarly widespread as in previous winters. In addition to Robin and Blackbird, Blue Tits and Magpies both occurred in over 90% of Irish gardens, while Great Tit, Chaffinch, House Sparrow and Goldfinch were in over 80% of gardens. For House Sparrow, it was their second-best year on record, likely due to a bumper breeding season. The species is on the ‘Amber list’ of Birds of Conservation Concern, so this positive trend is to be welcomed.
Though the winter weather was mostly mild, there were a few short spells of snow which drove birds into gardens in higher numbers. The first species affected by this are often the birds in the thrush family, including our resident Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush, migrant Redwing from Iceland and Fieldfare from Scandinavia.
“Despite the temperatures being mild overall, we seem to be getting more storms and multiple short snowy spells in recent years, and these can be enough to deplete birds’ fat reserves and put them under real pressure. Song Thrush occurred in an extra 12% of gardens last year owing to the snowy weather” said Burke. “So, these are the times when your garden birds really need you to provide food and water, and if you can put these out a few days before any snow hits then you’re giving the birds a chance to realise it’s there, so they know exactly where to go when the ground freezes over.”
Some very rare species were spotted in small numbers in Ireland last winter such as Bramblings, Lesser Whitethroats, Black Redstarts, Snow Buntings and Ring-necked Parakeets.
Getting involved in the survey
The value of an individual’s participation in the Irish Garden Bird Survey is not dependent on their bird knowledge, location or garden size but rather, their willingness to get involved every winter. “The value of the survey is when people do it year after year because we can monitor the change then. It doesn’t matter if you have three species in your garden and someone else has 30, we want to find out how those three species fare over time. That is the real crux of the survey,” explains Brian. “We want to hear from people with and without feeders. We want results from every type of garden in the country so that the survey results are representative of the whole country.”
Goldfinch. Photo: Dick Coombes.
The Irish Garden Bird Survey is once again sponsored by Ballymaloe, whose support in recent years has helped ensure the survey has gone from strength to strength, improving monitoring at national level and allowing for greater focus on conservation issues facing individual species. “United in our commitment to the environment and inspired by the legacy of our forefather, Ivan Allen, Ballymaloe businesses as a group proudly sponsor BirdWatch Ireland's annual Irish Garden Bird Survey. Mr Ivan Allen, the husband of Myrtle Allen and a devoted lover of birdlife, cherished the natural habitat around Ballymaloe House, and practised sustainable farming way ahead of his time. In his memory, our collective support for the Irish Bird Survey reflects our ongoing celebration of Mr Allen's passion for birdlife and commitment to conservation,” said Marketing and Digital Manager at Ballymaloe House Hotel, Helen Cuddigan. “Together Ballymaloe House Hotel, the Ballymaloe Cookery School and Ballymaloe Foods are honoured to contribute towards supporting the preservation of Irish birdlife via BirdWatch Ireland's important national Irish Garden Bird Survey initiative in his name. We encourage as many households as possible to get involved, every entry helps BirdWatch Ireland protect birdlife on the island of Ireland.” Participating in the Irish Garden Bird Survey each winter is a simple and effective way of contributing to a crucial body of data that will help to guide conservation. Through taking part, you are also sure to reap many rewards as the survey offers an opportunity to increase your bird knowledge, take a daily pause and perhaps, create memorable moments with friends and family. The Irish Garden Bird Survey will kick off on Monday, November 27th. For instructions on how to take part, see the Irish Garden Bird Survey page on our website here.