Magpie (Pica Pica) - podcast
Waiters strut across the green carpet of my garden,
In their black and white suits,
Gleaming iridescent blue and green feathers,
Tucked neatly across their backs.
Hopping on long black legs,
Observing, thinking,
Arrogantly surveying their domain.
Scavenger, predator, pest eater, omnivore,
Tossing bark, searching for bugs,
Gobbling up more seed than they can eat,
Tucking it away for later in the day.
Preening and splashing in the shallow end of my pond,
Chattering, trilling, warbling, and shrieking,
Mimicking sounds and confusing my ears,
Social and protective.
Stick collector, large nest maker,
Lover for life.
Youngsters gather in flighty gangs,
Parliament, tribe, or a mischief,
Beaks open, wings outstretched,
Swooping, often unbalanced,
Diamond tail too long for beautiful flight.
Collectors of things, shiny or dull,
Whatever catches their eye,
Superstitions surround this bold bird,
One for sorrow,
Two for joy,
I never forget to smile and say hello,
To the Magpies,
Just in case,
You never know.
The Eurasian Magpie is easy to identify with its black and white plumage, which when seen up close is iridescent blue. It has a distinctive long, black, diamond shaped tail with a dark green sheen. An adult’s tail is the same length as their body.
They are between 44-46cm in length with a wingspan of 52-60 cm and weigh 200-250 grams.
It’s easy to know when they are around, for they are not quiet birds. Their call is a harsh shrill and they will shriek a series of discordant notes when alarmed. We’ve heard this many times when walking through the garden, or when a cat has wandered too close to where they are feeding. It is an unmistakeable sound. They do also chatter, whistle, trill, and warble, and can imitate sounds they hear, such as windchimes, dogs, and occasionally a human voice.
They are widely spread across Europe and Asia and are not an endangered species, let’s hope it stays that way for I would miss watching these birds strut and preen, peck and swoop in my garden.
They are omnivores and will eat small mammals, small birds, and eggs, which has given them a reputation as a bad bird to have around. However, they are more likely to eat the pests in the garden than the small birds. Pests are easier to catch. They look greedy when feeding from a bird table as they will take more than they can eat and hide it somewhere for a later snack, they are not daft.
They mate for life, but generally don’t mate until their second year, staying with other youngsters while they learn about life. Survival rate in their first year is low, at about 22 percent, but once they have reached two years their life expectancy is about three and a half on average, although one wild magpie lived twenty-one years until it was shot. How sad. I don’t understand humans, sometimes.
In April they build a large domed nest high off the ground in the fork of a tree. These nests look very untidy being built from sticks cemented together with mud, but they are strong. We have one in an ash tree that is at least five years old, it’s weathered many storms, wind, rain, hail, and snow. I don’t think it is used any more, except as a place to steal sticks from.
They lay between three and six green speckled eggs. After twenty-one days the chicks hatch and then it is another twenty-seven days before they fly. The parents are hard pressed to feed them all and on average one in three chicks dies of starvation. When they have fledged, they stay together as a family group for several weeks while the young chicks learn how to forage and hunt for food.
The Magpie is a member of the crow family and, like all crows, is an intelligent creature, although when we watched a magpie trying to fly across the garden carrying a stick three times its length, dropping it and getting it caught in bushes, I was not convinced.
They can recognise themselves in a mirror and use tools to break or cut food into small portions for their chicks. They have been seen ‘playing’ games and working in a team. It is believed that they grieve for when a magpie dies others will cluster around the body squawking. They are known for collecting shiny things, but will collect dull objects too, and always choose food over jewellery. They know when I set out the wildlife camera because I’ve not caught them on it and if I move to take a photo in the garden they fly away. Clever, camera-shy birds.
They can recognise human faces, learning which human it is safe to be near, and which is not, it is believed they remember incidents of kindness and cruelty. This is probably where the superstition of acknowledging a Magpie comes from.
Seeing one magpie is supposed to be unlucky and you can either spit over your shoulder three times, which sounds disgusting, or say ‘Good Morning, Mr Magpie, how is your lady wife today?’ followed by flapping your arms like a bird. Of course, you could be offending the magpie if it is a female, but I think I will risk being called ‘that crazy English woman’ rather than having any bad luck.
The first written record of a rhyme about magpies is from 1780 –
One for sorrow,
Two for Mirth,
Three for a funeral,
And four for a birth.
By 1846 three more numbers had been added-
Five for heaven,
Six for hell,
Seven for the devil himself.
In Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable it changed again –
One’s sorrow
Two’s mirth,
Three’s a wedding,
Four’s a birth,
Five’s a christening,
Six a dearth,
Seven’s heaven
Eight is hell
And nine’s the devil his old self.
Then a children’s TV programme Magpie (1968-1980) rewrote the rhyme -
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,
Eight for a wish
Nine for a kiss,
Ten for a bird you must not miss.
I think they wanted it to rhyme so children would remember the programme easily and of course, ten was so they didn’t miss the next episode. Clever writing, not sure about the music that went with it though.
The best-known magpie rhyme in the UK now is -
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.
However, there are other versions, and in Lancashire the counting goes to thirteen –
Eight for a wish,
Nine for a kiss,
Ten a surprise you should be careful not to miss,
Eleven for health,
Twelve for wealth,
Thirteen beware it’s the devil himself.
I love how this bird has stirred imagination and maybe fear in us humans, probably because of their intelligence.
The Australian magpie is a little feistier and will swoop and scratch humans and dogs during the hatching season, so a little wariness is warranted.
I am not afraid of the magpies in our garden and will continue to smile while watching them.
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