Mag, There are a number of birds native to Australia of Corvidae species, but our magpie is not one of them.
quote: The
Australian Magpie (
Cracticus tibicen) is a medium-sized black and white
passerine bird native to Australia and southern New Guinea. A member of the Artamidae, it is closely related to the
butcherbirds.
At one stage, the Australian Magpie was considered to be three separate species, although zones of hybridisation between forms reinforced the idea of a single species with several subspecies, nine of which are now recognised.
The Cordivae birds in Australia are ravens and crows the like - which for size and shape are not all that different to our maggie! Go figure! (I don't have a lot of time for species' families - there's a lot of supposition in it all).