Habitat use and population dynamics of the Azure-Winged Magpie ...

(b)
Figure 2.2 (a) Distribution of Cyanopica cyanus worldwide (b) East Asian region and (c) in
Northern Mongolia. Asian subspecies: (1) C. c. cyanus, (2) C. c. kansuensis, (3) C. c.
interposita, (4) C. c. swinhoei, (5) C. c. pallescens, (6) C. c. stegmanni, (7) C. c. koreensis,
(8) C. c. japonica; European subspecies: (9) C. c. cooki and (10) C. c. gili. Figure 2.2 (a)
and (b) from Fok et al. (2002). Figure 2.2 (c) from Wikipedia (2011).
C. cyanus is locally common and increasing in Spain (240,000-260,000 pairs) and Portugal
(10,000-100,000 pairs) although their range is still rather restricted and fragmented (Snow et al.,
1998). This is perhaps because it was considered an agricultural pest and farmers destroyed their
nests (Dos Santos, 1968, in Kryukov et al., 2004). Persecutions nowadays are rare in Spain, as
the species is protected; the situation in Portugal is unknown (de la Cruz, pers. comm.). However,
Fok et al. (2002) attributed the fragmented distribution to possible existence of physical barriers
because similar patterns of postglacial dispersal have been observed in other species in the
Iberian region (Bilton et al., 1998; Hewitt, 1999). Numbers are also increasing over the main part
of their range in Asia, but populations are still very localised in the Baikal region (Madge &
Burn, 1994) although Kryukov et al. (2004) noted that between 1974 and 2004 it was observed
that their range has expanded towards the west of Lake Baikal. Again, potential barriers exist
such as the Da Hinggan Ling (Big Hinggan Mountains), the desert over Southern Mongolia and
Western China, and the Yellow Sea (Fig. 2.2b).
In Mongolia, the subspecies C. c. cyanus occurs in the Yuruu (Eroo), Orkhon, Selenge river
basins and their branch river basins of Northern Mongolia (Fig. 2.2c; Tugarinov, 1929, Kozlova,
1930, Bold 1973, 1977, Boldbaatar 1999, 2006 in Gantulga, 2010).
C. cyanus has been well-studied on the Iberian Peninsula and in Japan, but there has been little
research into the northern and central range of the birds, especially in northern Mongolia.
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