This bond can extend to trusting certain people around their offspring. A key reason why friendships with magpies are possible is that we now know that magpies are able to recognise and remember individual human faces for many years. They can learn which nearby humans do not constitute a risk.
Australian Magpies (Cracticus tibicen) are very widespread and live in suburbs across Australia where there are trees and adjacent open areas such as lawns, golf courses and playing fields. For most of the year, Magpies are friendly and sociable, and may even venture into your house to beg for food.
If a magpie has ever swooped on you, you might find this next part hard to believe. It turns out magpies can and do, form friendships with humans – and not just when they want food.
Australian Magpies are strongly territorial and defend their territories both from other magpies as well as potential predators. Unfortunately, some individual magpies perceive humans as a potential threat and accordingly, swoop down with a fast warning flight, occasionally making contact.
However, as the well-known rhyme shows, it is generally only seeing a lone magpie that is supposed to bring bad luck. We're not entirely sure why this is but we do know that magpies often mate for life so seeing a single magpie may mean it has lost its mate and therefore the chance of it bringing bad luck is higher.
When magpies have formed an attachment they will often show their trust, for example, by formally introducing their offspring. They may allow their chicks to play near people, not fly away when a resident human is approaching, and actually approach or roost near a human.
Interesting fact: It's true, magpies remember your face. They have excellent recall for faces and very long memories. So, if you've been swooped before, or even if you just look like someone they swooped last year, you're likely to get the same treatment again.
Magpies feel grief and even hold funeral-type gatherings for their fallen friends and lay grass “wreaths” beside their bodies, an animal behaviour expert has claimed. Dr Bekoff, of the University of Colorado, said these rituals prove that magpies, usually seen as an aggressive predator, also have a compassionate side.
Magpies can remember faces and hold grudges. Researchers in Brisbane, Australia have found that magpies will remember facial features and target those individuals. The research involved an individual in a mask, coming close enough to nests to make the magpies feel threatened.
It's also important to feed magpies in moderation to avoid overreliance on human-provided food. While feeding magpies can be a pleasurable and rewarding activity, it's essential to remember that feeding them should not replace their natural food sources or interfere with their natural behaviours.
Although they may not be enraged by certain colours, magpies that swoop tend to target specific types of people. For instance, some magpies will only swoop cyclists, while others will target pedestrians. A small percentage will indiscriminately attack anyone.
It can be hard to watch for magpies as they often swoop from behind, but they are much less likely to swoop if they are being watched directly. If you maintain eye contact with a magpie for as long as possible, it will be less likely to swoop. If you are on a bicycle, dismount.
The diet of a magpie
Their main diet in summer is grassland invertebrates, such as beetles, flies, caterpillars, spiders, worms and leatherjackets. In winter, they eat more plant material, such as wild fruits, berries and grains, with household scraps and food scavenged from bird tables or chicken runs, pet foods etc.
Aside from their overactive sense of danger, magpies are fairly intelligent birds which can recognise and remember human faces, and won't attack people they don't consider threats. As such, some experts suggest offering edible tributes to your local avian bully, so it will learn your face and know you come in peace.
The months following fledging are a dangerous time for young magpies, with a high percentage failing to make it through the first year. If the young birds survive to breed, their average life expectancy is around three years. Some live much longer than this, with the oldest recorded being more than 21 years old.
Magpies are very territorial and protective of their nests. During the nesting season, they will mob and attack humans, pets, and other birds near their nests. They will also bully other birds at feeders. Magpies tend to live in colonies.
Deterrents for magpies
Half-full plastic bottles or CDs hung up in trees to scare the predators away. Magpies don't like the way light reflects from the surface. GuardnEyes scarecrow balloon, available from Dazer UK.
Remember, magpies are simply trying to protect their territory. Stay calm, protect your face and walk away quickly. A magpie may become aggressive towards people because it has been harassed in the past. Please do not throw things at magpies or chase them.
Only a small proportion of magpies swoop on people and these often have a preference for a few individuals that the birds recognise or certain types of 'targets' like pedestrians and cyclists. A magpie will only defend its nest within a 'defence zone'.
Our canine friends are not nearly as clever as chimpanzees or dolphins. They rank in a similar way to cats, goats and pigs. And depressingly, in some ways, they aren't as smart as birds like pigeons and magpies.
Magpies are loyal and will stay together as long as they are both alive. They work together to construct wonderful nests.
They can also feel, have empathy and even grieve for the death of a partner; magpies in particular, apart from parrots, can form long-term friendships with humans or their dogs.
'Young birds and subordinates will bow down and shake their tail feathers when a dominant male or female is near,' Connelly explains.
Magpies are really quite lovable and it is easy to learn to live with these wonderful birds. A magpie friend is a good friend to have, particularly in the garden where it will eat up all your grubs!
Like dogs, magpies seem to sense fear and will capitalise on it by pressing an attack. In a strike attack, a magpie swoops, hovers momentarily and then strikes. The fluttering of wings as the bird hovers is usually sufficient warning for adults and older children to duck their heads and avoid the attack.