Magpie: The Noisy, Brash Bird and Creator of Superstitions
Eurasian Magpie
Photo Credit – iNaturalist
There are three well-known species of black-and-white Magpie: the Eurasian Magpie found across Europe and Asia, the Black-billed Magpie of western North America, and the Yellow-billed Magpie, which substitutes for the Black-billed Magpie in California’s Central Valley. The three species belong to the Corvid or Crow family and are identified by their long tails and iridescent purple, green, and blue-streaked wings. The “pied” Australian Magpie is also black and white, but it is not a member of the Corvid family. It was given its name because it resembles a Eurasian Magpie, and ranges across Australia, Tasmania and southern New Guinea.
Black-billed Magpie
Photo Credit – Cornell Lab of Ornithology
Yellow-billed Magpie
Photo Credit – National Audubon Society
All three varieties are nearly identical, and it was not until 2000 that the American Ornithologists’ Union recognized the Black-billed Magpie as a unique species, based on its vocalizations and behavior. Colorful magpies exist in Southeast Asia, and there is the smaller black and white Iberian Magpie, with its white throat.
Australian Magpie
Photo Credit – WILDAMBIENCE
Iberian Magpie
Photo Credit – eBird
The word “magpie” combines two words. The birds’ original name, first recorded in the 13th century, was “pie,” possibly meaning something pointed, such as their long tail feathers or beak. In the 16th century, the prefix “mag” was added. “Mag” was the short form for Margaret, a word used to describe women generally. Humans possibly added this prefix because of the birds’ call of chac-chac-chac-chac, which sounded like the “idle chattering of women.”
Yellow-billed Magpie Range Map
Photo Credit – South Dakota Birding and Birds
Black-billed Magpie Range Map
Photo Credit – South Dakota Birding and Birds
All three species are common in their habitat; only the Yellow-billed is under conservation threat. The Eurasian Magpie has a broad range, with a population exceeding 50 million. In Europe, the number exceeds 20 million, with approximately 1.5 million residing in the UK. Magpies do not migrate. Estimates for the North American Black-billed Magpie are around 5.5 million, with its territory extending from coastal Alaska down through upland areas in most of the southwest states. Population estimates for Yellow-billed Magpies are around 110, 000 and their numbers have declined since the 1960s. Their habitat is Central California’s oak woodlands and grass-oak savannas. Ornithologists have placed the species on the Yellow Watch List.
The Magpie Nursery Rhyme
Photo Credit – IrelandPosters.ie
Magpies are among the most intelligent birds in the world, with a brain-to-body mass only outmatched by humans. Their ratio is equivalent to that of great apes and dolphins. In addition to using tools, imitating human speech, grieving, and working in teams, they distinguish themselves from others by recognizing themselves in mirror tests.
Over the centuries, magpies have become deeply ingrained in folklore due to their visibility to humans, their numbers, and their behavior. In Britain, ornithology organizations report the species as the thirteenth most abundant bird in the UK. My most recent encounter with magpies occurred during a visit to London in April 2015. I was returning from an outing to the Imperial War Museum in Lambeth, south London, when I encountered a solitary magpie (considered the devil in disguise) cleaning up crumbs on a table outside a restaurant. It was irritated and flew away reluctantly. I thought nothing of the incident until 15 hours later, when British Airways cancelled my flight home just before departure time because the inbound flight had been called off due to a fatality among the cabin crew. I did not link the two events, but superstition and tradition suggest they may have been connected. As the nursery rhyme states, encountering a lone Magpie is the harbinger of “sorrow”.
British and German folklore believe that encountering a lone magpie brings bad luck. Had I known, I might have saluted the bird, greeted it politely, spit three times to recognize its presence, or pinched the person I was walking with, all methods used to counteract magpie misfortune.
Folklore of Magpies
Photo Credit – HubPages
In Scotland, magpies near house windows are said to foretell death inside, and in France and Sweden, magpies are regarded as thieves because they are believed to steal shiny objects. Scandinavian folklore includes the belief that witches ride on magpies, and in Rome, magpies were associated with magic and fortune-telling. By contrast, Asian cultures consider magpies harbingers of good news, joy, and good fortune, and Native Americans treated them as guardians and messengers. Wearing a magpie feather was a sign of fearlessness.
It is claimed that the magpie was the only bird not allowed into Noah’s ark because of its association with bad fortune. In Yorkshire, England, people linked magpies to witchcraft and used the sign of the cross to counter their evil influence.
Behaviorally, magpies taunt larger animals, hound anything that interferes with their nesting, and conduct impromptu squawking funerals and vigils in memory of dead colleagues. In parts of France, they warned people of the presence of a wolf. They mate for life.
However, despite my flight cancellation, connecting with these birds I grew up with was a delight. They are no less noisy, aggressive, rude and protective today than they were back then.
