Is it true that the European Magpie (Pica pica) has the ability to "talk" in the same way big parrots do?

Question

Someone told me that they can "talk" and learn words like big parrots or Macaws. Do they have the same tongue and larynx anatomy that enables them to do so?

Answer 1

Yes. Magpies can be taught to talk. Gerald Durrell, the naturalist, tells how when he lived in Corfu, Greece, they had a magpie which could imitate his mother, and delighted in calling the dogs in his mother's voice, to their great confusion.

Birds don't a larnyx. They have a syrinx which works on a different principle to our larnyx, but the end effect is the same.

Answer 2

yes, so can crows.