Head to head
Magpie vs Crow
Magpies and crows are close cousins in the crow family, often share the same fields and streets, and both have a reputation for cunning and for stealing. Telling them apart is easy once you look at the tail and the colour.
| Magpie | Crow | |
|---|---|---|
| Plumage | Black and white, tail glossed green-purple | All black, sometimes with a faint sheen |
| Tail | Long, tapering; over half of total length | Short and square-ended |
| Size | Slimmer, ~44 to 46 cm including the tail | Bulkier, ~45 to 50 cm, heavier bill |
| Flight | Fluttery and undulating, long tail trailing | Steady and direct on broad wings |
| Nest | Large domed stick nest with a roof | Open bulky cup high in a tree |
| Social life | Pairs and small groups, year-round territory | Pairs to large flocks and communal roosts |
| Voice | Loud rattling chatter | Harsh cawing |
| Mirror mark test | Passed (self-recognition shown) | Evidence mixed across crow species |
Magpie vs Crow: common questions
Are magpies and crows the same family?
Yes. Both are members of Corvidae, the crow family, which also includes ravens, rooks, jackdaws, jays, nutcrackers, choughs, and treepies. Within that family the true crows and ravens form the genus Corvus, while the familiar black-and-white magpie of Europe and Asia sits in the genus Pica. They are close enough to share the family traits of high intelligence, loud harsh calls, omnivory, strong pair bonds, and mobbing behaviour, but they are not the same genus and do not interbreed. Confusingly, the Australian magpie is not a corvid at all but a member of a separate Australasian family, and it just happens to be black and white.
Do magpies really steal shiny things?
Not really. The idea that magpies are compulsive thieves of jewellery and coins is old folklore, cemented by the opera The Thieving Magpie, but tests have found close to the opposite: captive magpies offered shiny objects next to food were wary of the shiny items and often avoided them. Wild magpies are curious and will pick things up and examine them, as crows and jays do, and a bird may occasionally carry off and cache an odd object, but there is no evidence of a special attraction to shiny things. Crows show the same mild curiosity and are no more or less magpie-like about it.
Which is more intelligent, a magpie or a crow?
They are in the same top tier of bird intelligence and any ranking is rough. Crows, especially the New Caledonian crow, are the celebrities of animal tool use, making hooked tools and solving multi-step puzzles, and several crow species remember human faces for years and hold what look like grudges. Magpies are less studied but clearly formidable: the Eurasian magpie is one of the very few non-mammals to pass the mirror mark test for self-recognition, and magpies show complex social behaviour including what has been described as grief-like gatherings. Broadly, crows have the stronger tool-use record and magpies the standout self-recognition result.