A white-backed Australian Magpie Gymnorhina tibicen in Sydney, New South Wales

Abstract

Australian Magpies in the coastal Sydney region of New South Wales are generally the subspecies Gymnorhina tibicen tibicen, which exhibits black-backed plumage. I report 14 sightings between June 2018 and March 2020 of a whitebacked Magpie within a 150-m radius in a suburban area of southern Sydney, 350 km from where white-backed plumage forms are typically observed. Two plausible explanations for the occurrence of this individual are: natural dispersal or the individual originating from a captive source.