Hybrid magpie: looks amazing, but a warning to keep in mind
Rare Hybrid Bird Descendant
It is a rare descendant. From the blue magpie and the green magpie, two common species whose evolutionary separation occurred 7 million years ago. The feathers of the resulting bird are of a very beautiful blue color, but this discovery suggests that its existence may be due to the risk posed by climate change.
Lucky Discovery
In the spring of 2023, Stokes came across a blurry photo of a bird that looked like a blue magpie “but clearly different,” as he explained. After contacting the person who had posted the photo, Stokes captured the bird, took a blood sample, tagged its leg, and released it.
Natural? Human-Made?
So far, similar hybrids have been seen in bears or wolves, but as a result of direct human influence such as the introduction of invasive species, Stokes said. Although climate change is, at least as debated, a consequence of human activity, this hybrid magpie “seems to have appeared when climatic patterns led to the expansion of the habitat of the species that crossed,” he added.
