Birds / Crows

Magpie

Pica pica

Also known as Eurasian magpie and Common magpie

Common All year Gardens Farmland Woodland Towns

Test yourself

Recording: Mark Plummer / xeno-canto

Sounds like

A loud, dry rattle, 'chak-chak-chak-chak', like a football rattle or a stick run along railings. Pairs and groups chatter back and forth, especially when they spot a cat or an owl.

Remember it

A machine-gun rattle from the treetops. If it rattles rather than screams, think magpie, not jay.

When and where

Listening for the magpie

Heard: JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
All year round
Time of day: Dawn and Day
Where: Gardens, Farmland, Woodland, Towns
In Britain: All year
Family: Crows

Side by side

Often confused with

Play them one after the other and listen for the difference.

Magpie

Pica pica

JFMAMJJASOND

A machine-gun rattle from the treetops. If it rattles rather than screams, think magpie, not jay.

Jay

Garrulus glandarius

JFMAMJJASOND

Sounds like cloth being ripped.

Could you pick out a magpie?

Hear a song, choose from four birds, and build your streak.

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Same habitat

Also in gardens

See all

Blackbird

Turdus merula

JFMAMJJASOND

Slow, rich, fluting phrases that wander about and often trail off into a quiet chuckle.

Blue Tit

Cyanistes caeruleus

JFMAMJJASOND

Two or three thin, high notes followed by a fast, shimmering trill: 'tsee-tsee-tsuhuhuhu'.

Chaffinch

Fringilla coelebs

JFMAMJJASOND

A cheerful, accelerating run of notes that tumbles down and ends in a flourish, repeated over and over.

Coal Tit

Periparus ater

JFMAMJJASOND

A fast, high, two-note phrase repeated several times: 'pitchoo-pitchoo-pitchoo'.