Do You Know The Taiwan Blue Magpie? It’s Taiwan’s National Bird And Awesome

The Taiwan Blue Magpie is Taiwan’s national bird and fu**ing awesome!

It is an endemic species living in the mountains of Taiwan at elevations of 300 to 1200m.

Also called the Taiwan magpie or Formosan blue magpie or the “long-tailed mountain lady”, this amazing bird is a member of the Crow family. But much more colorful than its cousins.

This fascinating blue crow is unafraid of people. They are usually found in groups of six or more, gliding and shuttling in the woods.

Similar to other members of the crow family, they have a raucous call which is described as a high pitched cackling chatter, “kyak-kyak-kyak-kyak”, and they are well known scavengers and omnivores.

Their diet includes snakes, rodents, small insects, plants, fruits, and seeds. Wild figs and papayas are their favorites. They are known to store leftovers on the ground and cover them with leaves for future retrievals. Sometimes they store food in the leaves or branches.

The Taiwan blue magpie is monogamous. Females incubate eggs while males help out with nest building and feeding. Taiwan blue magpies have a strong nest defense behaviour, and will attack intruders mercilessly until they retreat.

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