It's beloved, but Australia's magpie is an international bird of mystery | Leo Joseph

Our magpies are not the same as Europe's, so why do they share a name? The bird of the year has a complicated back story

The Australian magpie has been crowned bird of the year but how much do we really know about it? Where do magpies fit in the evolutionary scheme of things? Why do we even call them magpies?

DNA sequencing technology has revolutionised biology. Our understanding of the evolutionary tree of bird life - that is how species and groups of birds are related to each other and how their evolution has unfolded on the planet's changing continents - is no exception. We now have a much better understanding than we did just 30 years ago of where all the species of the world's birds perch, so to speak, on that tree.