Alberta - Why Do Magpies Have A Bad Reputation?
In which I try to rehabilitate an unfairly maligned bird.
EPISODE NOTES
This one sparked a lively debate. What struck me was how many people were swearing up and down that they, or someone they knew, had seen magpies pecking at livestock to the point of making an open wound. I could not find any good evidence that this happens. It’s absolutely true that magpies pick parasites off of animals. It’s also possible if those parasites have created an infected area, the magpies might eat the flesh around them as well. And at that point, it’s a small jump to the magpies actually causing the wound in the first place. But I think I can pretty squarely say that if this ever does happen, it’s exceedingly rare and by no means a habitual magpie thing.
This was the only video I’ve ever posted that has had its visibility restricted by TikTok based on a user complaint. I’m not sure whether that’s because I show (I’d say not gratuitous) carrion in an archival image, or because someone was just mad that I was defending magpies and wanted to smack me. Things got pretty heated in that comment section - though I tried to keep out of it.
A long time after I posted this video, I read James Bridle’s book Ways of Being. In it, he points out that the mirror test referenced in this episode is an awfully anthropocentric way of determining intelligence. So now I feel kinda bad that I put so much weight on it.
Having just downplayed the mirror test, I should also mention that some Australian corvids seem to pass it as well, so it may not just be magpies anymore!
TRANSCRIPT
On my second day in Alberta, I arrived in Calgary. And right away, I started catching glimpses of these gorgeous birds.
At a glance, they’re starkly black and white. But in the right light from the right angle, they shine with a blue-green iridescence. They looked like they belonged in the tropics, not the prairies.
Which is apparently an embarrassingly common reaction. Visitors gape and swoon at the black-billed magpie, a bird that, locally, rates maybe just above pigeons. Loud, ravenous, annoying, overabundant pigeons.
But I still wanted to leave Calgary with footage of the magpie and their unexpected iridescence. And the more I saw of them the more I liked them. So today I wanna change some minds on this poor bird, because they are pretty extraordinary.
Let’s start with why they’re maligned. It goes back a long way, but it seems to originate in Western European Christian culture. Roman and Greek mythology love magpies. Today they’re good luck in much of the world. But Western Europe railroaded them. They interpreted every quality of the magpie as a condemnation.
Their natural inquisitiveness got reimagined as kleptomania, especially for shiny objects - even though studies show they’re suspicious and avoidant of anything shiny.
The breadth of their constant vocalizations apparently meant they have a drop of the devil’s blood in their tongue, and if you release it they can speak like a human.
And maybe the harshest misunderstanding: the fact that they often pick parasites from livestock lead to the idea that they’re literally bloodthirsty. As Bert Popowski wrote in the hilariously titled chapter “Magpies are Murder!” in the hilariously titled book “Calling all Varmints”;
“Handsome? Yes, but only feather deep. Actually, for their size and weight, magpies are probably the most murderous fiends of the whole avian world. They own a hankering for warm blood and red meat that is little short of phenomenal.”
For the record; no, they do not. They’ll feed on carrion but not, as some people honestly insisted, swarm and devour cows whole.
My favourite myth of all, by the way, is that magpies were the only animal who refused to get on Noah’s Ark, preferring to wait out the flood chattering and swearing in the downpour. That one’s also meant to condemn them but, I dunno, it reads as pretty badass to me.
But it’s not just about what magpies are not - what they are doesn’t get nearly enough credit, which is: one of the most intelligent animals in the world.
For example, they’re the only bird to pass the ‘mirror test’. A coloured dot is placed on their necks, then they are placed in front of a mirror. The magpies try to remove the dots: they understand it’s them in the reflection. Their level of self-awareness isn’t just unique among birds - they’re the only non-mammals to ever pass the test.
And those smarts get put to use. Magpies are capable of learning from and teaching one another. That ability to pass down knowledge puts them in another rarified group: animals that develop cultures.
This can lead to some strange behaviour. For instance, magpies hold ‘funerals’ - gathering in trees around a dead magpie, calling loudly, some even approaching to peck at its wings or tail. And we’re still not really sure why. As common as they are, they’re still a mystery.
Once you’ve been here a while, it’s true that they can start to fade into the background - just a pigeon in a tuxedo. But I think that’s when it’s important to take another look. You see these everyday animals in black and white until you find the right angle and the right light and all of a sudden - they start to shine again.