Salute the magpie. Say 'Good morning general' or 'Good morning captain'. Say 'Good morning Mr Magpie, how is your lady wife today? '
1. In order to ward off bad luck, greet the sight of a lone Pica pica with the words: 'Good morning, Mr Magpie, how are Mrs Magpie and all the other little magpies? '
Magpies are about all year round and don't migrate in winter. Popular superstitions. A way of combating the bad tidings is to say, "Good morning, Mr Magpie - how's your lady wife today?" This means you're showing the magpie due respect, hoping that he won't pass bad luck on to you.
People are told that he/she should salute or wave at a magpie to show respect. Some also believe that greeting the bird also helps to fend off bad luck. The superstitions are considered so serious that some people wink when they see a single magpie to believe that they saw two magpies.
Befriending a magpie
If you have magpies around your home or neighbourhood that you would like to befriend, the first step is to let them see your face from a distance, trying to make eye contact with the bird. Gisela says you could also try and temp them with a little magpie-friendly food to show you aren't a threat.
“The only way to (win over) a magpie is for it to see you regularly,” he told NCA NewsWire. “Most magpies live in a very small patch; within an area only big enough for a dozen houses. People within that proximity of a magpie can easily make friends with them.
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.
Forget fake eyes and spiky helmets — if you want to avoid being attacked by magpies, just make an effort to be friends with them.
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.
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.
Magpies sing to reinforce their claim on their territory, mostly at dawn and dusk. But while we are all familiar with the magpie's melodious carolling, we are perhaps less familiar with their other calls. Magpies use many different calls, including grunting noises, to communicate.
3. The magpies are singing in the change of seasons – in the dead of night. They begin their annual mating rituals about now – just before the swooping season – and it often involves repetitive carolling around midnight.
All these calls are meant to attract attention. Mobbing calls are rallying calls to get all group members to attend to an intruder. The begging call of nestlings is already of an amplitude similar to that of adult mobbing and alarm calls, first formant about 1.5 kHz but with main energy still at 3 kHz.
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.
Simon remembered a rhyme his mother used to recite to him, about magpies. You were supposed to count them and say: one for sorrow, two for mirth, three for a wedding, four for a birth, five for silver, six for gold, seven for a secret that's never been told.
Magpies feed on small insects and animals that live on, or just under, the surface of the ground. A favourite is the scarab beetle, which is a major pest of garden lawns. Magpies will also eat frogs, small lizards, meat scraps and grain.
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.
The behaviour of closeness display that the bird has faith in you. Sometimes birds shake their tails to show their feeling of love to humans. They also sleep on you or on your arm, which means that they love you and have huge trust in you.
Avoid: Feeding Magpies and other wild birds, as they are very good at finding their own food and can become sick if they eat old seed or processed foods like bread. Riding your bike near a nesting Magpie as they are more likely to swoop bike riders than people walking.
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 generally cop a bit of flack this time of the year but one bird in Dunsborough Lakes might be the most generous in the South West. A female magpie recently gave Sandra St Jack a small soft toy, in exchange for items for her nest.
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.
According to another a study published in the journal Animal Behaviour, ravens which include crows, jays and magpies, have the ability to 'hold grudges' for up to two years.
In 2009, a researcher from the University of Colorado published detailed observations of four magpies at a funeral alongside the corpse of a fifth bird, and concluded that the birds were displaying humanlike emotions.
One hand-raised Australian magpie (Gymnorhina tibicen) developed the ability to mimic human speech, including words and phrases. This individual mimicked a large number of (non-human) sounds, but a third of all mimicked sounds were of human speech.