Bornean green magpie

Description

The Bornean green magpie (Cissa jefferyi) is a passerine bird in the crow family, Corvidae. It is endemic to montane forests on the southeast Asian island of Borneo. It was formerly included as a subspecies of the Javan green magpie, but under the common name Short-tailed Green Magpie. Uniquely among the green magpies, the Bornean green magpie has whitish eyes (dark reddish-brown in the other species). It dwells in thick vegetation in the mid and upper storeys of forests, and makes only short flights. The Bornean green magpie builds an open cup nest of sticks in the canopy. The Bornean green magpie has a rather harsh call; a reminder that they are passerine birds which belong to the crow family Corvidae. Cissa is a genus of relatively short-tailed magpies, sometimes known as hunting cissas, that reside in the forests of tropical and subtropical southeast Asia and adjacent regions. The four species are quite similar with bright red bills, a mainly green plumage, black mask, and rufous wings. Due to excess exposure to sunlight (and, possibly, a low-carotenoid diet), they often appear rather turquoise (instead of green) in captivity. They are carnivorous, and mainly feed on arthropods and small vertebrates. The genus was introduced by the German zoologist Friedrich Boie in 1826 with the common green magpie (Cissa chinensis) as the type species. The name Cissa is from the Ancient Greek kissa meaning a "jay" or "magpie".