Magpies are birds of the corvid family, which also includes crows, jackdaws, jays and ravens. Magpies are widely found across the world, especially in parts of Europe, Asia, North America and Africa.
Magpies are one of my favourite birds here. They regularly frequent my garden generally to scavenge for food. I always blame the birds for pecking open my rubbish bags in search of food. I'm perhaps unfairly blaming them as I once saw a rat bite its way into a rubbish bag. The reason there are sometimes rubbish bags in my front garden is that after about ten days there's no room in the large wheelie bin - the council only collects non-recyclable rubbish every fortnight here. Also at least one magpie lives in my loft. At first I thought it may be a rat or a squirrel until I saw a magpie fly in and out of the loft via the roof's eaves.
Do you have magpies where you live?
Allen William Seaby's A Magpie in a Pine Tree, c1906:
In England, magpies were and still are often seen as bad fortune or good fortune depending how many are counted. The book, Observations of Popular Antiquities, published in 1780, is the first known record of counting magpies as a harbinger, when the English antiquarian John Brand wrote: "One for sorrow, Two for mirth, Three for a funeral, And four for a birth."
These other lines were later added to the nursery rhyme: "Five for heaven, Six for hell, Seven for the devil, his own self." And in the English county of Lancashire, records suggest other lines were also added to the rhyme: "Eight for a wish, Nine for a kiss, Ten for a surprise you should be careful not to miss, Eleven for health, Twelve for wealth, Thirteen beware it's the devil himself, Fourteen for Love, Fifteen for a dove, Sixteen for the chime of a bell, Seventeen for the angels protection. Eighteen to be safe from hell, Nineteen to be safe from a crime, Twenty to end this rhyme."
In his 1828 book, Salmonia: Or Days of Fly Fishing, the English chemist and inventor Humphrey Davy wrote about magpies: "For anglers in spring it has always been regarded as unlucky to see single magpies, but two may be always regarded as a favourable omen; ... in cold and stormy weather one magpie alone leaves the nest in search of food; the other remaining sitting on the eggs ... when two go out ... the weather is warm ... favourable for fishing.” It's believed that Davy's words influenced the second line of the 'One for Sorrow' nursery rhyme, which has gradually evolved over time. It now reads: "One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret never to be told."
In English folklore, it was and still is believed that when someone comes across a lone magpie, they should salute the bird to prevent bad luck. A typical salute would include the saying: 'Hello Mr Magpie. How are Mrs Magpie and all the little magpies?' A few superstitious people would also spit three times over their shoulder and flap their arms like wings. The magpie has quite a place in folklore here.
Piero della Francesca's The Nativity, 1470-75 - a piece of Italian Renaissance art:
Here are six bits of magpie trivia - six magpies mean gold (I'm not superstitious!):
Unlike some birds, such as kingfishers, ospreys, puffins, sparrows, starlings and swallows, magpies are thriving here. It's estimated that the magpie population in Britain has increased fourfold since the 1970s, because increasing traffic on the roads led to an increasing amount of roadkill providing an abundant supply of food for the birds.
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we do have lots of crows and sparrows Cardinals, blue jays, Baltimore Orioles, and some hummingbirds.
Our sparrow population here in Britain is in decline.
Here's another piece of trivia - this is the ceiling of a palace in Sintra, Portugal. Our guide said it was painted as a rebuke to court gossips.
Photo didn't seem to go through - trying again (but I suppose it will appear later and make me look stupid).
Your fascinating photo did come through, but you're not stupid when it comes to this site!
Magpies can be found in the western US. I am not surprised that they recognize themselves. They are in the family with crows, who are also known to be smart.
I can rarely out-smart magpies scavenging through my rubbish bags.
I LOVE magpies, even pretend I'm not superstitious around them . . .
We have loads around here, especially in urban settings. They do like to scavenge and seem to be quite territorial, especially with grey squirrels.
The crisp white colour against the blue-ish black background is beautiful.
There are black and white crows in the Gambia that are not the same as maggies, they call them magpies there, but the tail isn't as long. There's another black bird that I think looks identical to a magpie, maybe slightly leaner, but it's all black. The behaviours look quite similar too. But I can't find the name. My pal told me they're african starlings, but I'm not sure he's right. Their black feathers have the same deep blue hue that you often seen in our magpies. He used to do birding tours in the Gambia so I guess I should take his word for it.
The birds in the Gambia are fantasmagorical!
The Gambia is amazing for birds. The guides seem to know their stuff.
In my part of South England magpies are thriving, although I live on a busy main rural road I often hear a song thrush and although never seen I can hear an owl. There are raptors too, peregrine falcons, buzzards and the odd red kite, glad to be able to appreciate nature.
I guess the magpies may be drawn to any roadkill.
I've not seen Magpies here. I would love to host one. We do have a plethora of crows. Loud, busy crows
Hugs!!
If crows can thrive where you are, magpies should also thrive.
I'm in Maryland on the Maryland/Pennsylvania border, and don't know if there are magpies here or not. I will start looking for them when I start feeding the birds for the winter.
I hope you spot a magpie where you live. Magpies are scavengers.
Thank you. What a great way to start/end a irritating Monday.
I'm glad you enjoyed the blog post.
Magpies are not usually found in Michigan. We have mostly blue jays and crows both of which hang out year round. Blue jays have been hit very hard by bird flu and I have definitely noticed the decrease.
Avian flu is rife here as well.
I am not sure if we have magpies here or not. I don't pay attention to birds for the most part I do know we have some very annoying birds that won't shut up first thing in the morning lol. I am glad the magpies are your favorite birds as hey are quite interesting.
I hope you Monday continue to be a marvelous start to your new week..🙂
I'd be surprised if you get magpies in hot California.
I don't think I have seen a Magpie. When I lived in Florida, the state bird was the Mockingbird. It would make sounds and calls like other birds. My experience with them was when I use to deliver mail on a walking route. Meaning I would walk up to each house to where they had a mailbox, if there was a nest nearby where I would have to walk by, they would swoop down and squawk and peck at me or who ever came close to the nest.
God forbid they had a nest on or next to the mailbox, that home would not get their mail until the moved the nest. I have seen them chase cats away and the cats where bigger than the actual Mocking bird.
On one particular route I was covering for a few weeks during nesting season for the bird, at one house, being attacked by this bird was every day occurrence. I had read that some jets at airports would paint an eye ball at the center of each of the jet engines so the birds would stray away from the jet and not fly towards the engines. So in an attempt to apply that idea, I drew two large eyes on a sheet of paper and cut them out and taped the on the top rear of my pith helmet. I only wore that helmet when I was on that block delivering.
The dang bird would fly around me squawking and fluttering but would not peck me in avoidance of my eyes and the eyes on the helmet. Every time I saw it attack a person walking by or the cat it would always attack and hit its target on the back of the head. I had no ill will towards the bird, nor did I want to mess with its nest, I just wanted to deliver the mail but I actually applied what others did to my dilemma and for the time I was on the route I was able to avoid further issues with the momma bird protecting her nest.
Fortunate for me after transferring to the Midwest, Mockingbirds are not the type of bird that lives in this area.
Thanks for the clip. Mockingbirds sound like great birds. Unfortunately they are very rarely seen in Britain.
Yes! I have a family of magpies living in my garden since 10 years ago! Also one of crows and another one of "Eurasian" jays
Corvids are so inteligent! But magpies are specially bold 
Magpies are cool.
We absolutely have them here, but I'm (sort of) out in the country so they have places to go as opposed to bothering residents.
The ones that really crack me up are the ones in the parking lots of the shopping centers that apparently have learned to mimic the sound of car alarms going off. 😄
And apparently Americans are not nearly as enthralled with the whole subject of magpies as Europeans are! (That's a lot of words. 😀)
I take my hat off to magpies for their chutzpah.