Levitation
For most of my bird-watching years I have known this species as Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopicus cyanus). It was famous for having one of the most unusual distributions of any bird on the planet. They are found in far-eastern Asia (including China, Japan, Siberia) with a small population in Portugal and Spain, but occurring nowhere in the 9000 km gap between them. But in 2002 some genetic research was published that suggested they were different but near-identical species, and the European "species" became known as Iberian Magpie (Cyanopica cooki). The main difference is that the eastern species has about an inch of white at the tips of the blue central tail feathers. They are social birds, usually occurring in family groups that inhabit open woodland areas. I photographed this one mid-bounce in Spain's Coto Donana using a shutter speed of 1/2500.
The eastern Azure-winged Magpie (C.cyanus) was first described by Peter Pallas in 1776, but the Iberian Magpie was first described as subspecies cooki by Charles Bonaparte (Napoleon's nephew) in 1850, and this name has subsequently been adopted for the new species. Iberian Magpie differs from Azure-winged mainly because it lacks the latter's white tips to the central tail feathers. But Iberian is also a bit smaller and browner-backed that eastern Azure-winged. The Cook after whom cooki was named was Captain Samuel Edward Cook (1787-1856) British geologist, naturalist and collector. Cook collected an Azure-winged Magpie in Spain in 1831, which was until then, only known from the Far East.
Levitation
For most of my bird-watching years I have known this species as Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopicus cyanus). It was famous for having one of the most unusual distributions of any bird on the planet. They are found in far-eastern Asia (including China, Japan, Siberia) with a small population in Portugal and Spain, but occurring nowhere in the 9000 km gap between them. But in 2002 some genetic research was published that suggested they were different but near-identical species, and the European "species" became known as Iberian Magpie (Cyanopica cooki). The main difference is that the eastern species has about an inch of white at the tips of the blue central tail feathers. They are social birds, usually occurring in family groups that inhabit open woodland areas. I photographed this one mid-bounce in Spain's Coto Donana using a shutter speed of 1/2500.
The eastern Azure-winged Magpie (C.cyanus) was first described by Peter Pallas in 1776, but the Iberian Magpie was first described as subspecies cooki by Charles Bonaparte (Napoleon's nephew) in 1850, and this name has subsequently been adopted for the new species. Iberian Magpie differs from Azure-winged mainly because it lacks the latter's white tips to the central tail feathers. But Iberian is also a bit smaller and browner-backed that eastern Azure-winged. The Cook after whom cooki was named was Captain Samuel Edward Cook (1787-1856) British geologist, naturalist and collector. Cook collected an Azure-winged Magpie in Spain in 1831, which was until then, only known from the Far East.