The Eurasian magpie (Pica pica) was considered to have 10 subspecies until recently. I previously did a post on the subspecies P. p. bactriana, also known as the Russian black-billed magpie. Since that post, four of the subspecies have been re-classified as separate species and there are now six subspecies of Eurasian magpie. One of those subspecies, P. p. pica, the nominate subspecies, is often referred to as the European magpie as it is found through most of Europe (see the light green shading in the map below - the British Islands to the west, southern Scandinavia to the north and the Mediterranean on the south (including most of the islands), and east to Russia.
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| European magpie distribution - see light green shading covering most of Europe. From Wikipedia. |
I saw European magpies in Kaliningrad, a Russian oblast, just south of the Baltic Sea, sandwiched between Poland and Lithuana. I have not been able to find what distinguishes this subspecies from other subspecies.
At first they look just black and white, but you did a good job of catching the iridescent blue in the wings and tail.
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