The Story
I photographed this Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) at Mati Temple (Mati Si) near Zhangye, Gansu, China on March 29, 2018. It is a slender member of the crow family with a glossy black cap, a white throat and azure-blue wings and tail. It lives across eastern Asia, from China, Korea and Japan north into Mongolia and southern Siberia. Its diet is mainly acorns and pine nuts, along with insects, fruit and scraps in parks and towns. IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. The Mati Temple caves were listed as a Major National Historical and Cultural Site in 1996.
I took this with a Pentax K-1 and the HD PENTAX-D FA 150-450mm F4.5-5.6ED DC AW, at 1/320 sec, f/5.6, ISO 200. The temple and its village sit below the Qilian Mountains, and their old caves are protected as a national heritage site.
©2018 Adam Rainoff Photographer
The bird
The Azure-winged Magpie (Cyanopica cyanus) belongs to the family Corvidae (Crows, Jays, and Magpies) in the eBird/Clements taxonomy.
Source: eBird.org (opens in a new tab)
Conservation
Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (assessment published 2025), with the population trend listed as decreasing. Source: IUCN Red List
