Chatterpye

After yesterday's blip of the exotic East African Crowned Crane, a return to our local birds today with this shot of the controversial Magpie: the Chatterpye, or Chatterpie as it is sometimes called in East Anglia.  The chatter part of the name coming from the bird's chattering call and pie from the old English for bird.  

The magpie seems to have enjoyed a lot of different field names, it is known as Margaret's pie in parts of Worcestershire and Chattermag in Somerset.  In other parts of the UK it is called Magot pie, Margaret, Maggie, Migie, Mock-a-pie and Nannie to mention just a few. 

The collective noun for Magpies is a mischief.  Perhaps, because this intelligent bird predates the nests of  other birds.  As a result Magpies were persecuted by those raising game birds for sport, although their abundance has meant that they have escaped the near extinction meted out to of other predators, such as the Hen Harrier.   

The only bird to have refused to enter the ark (it perched on the roof so the story goes), the Magpie seems to have a long and complicated relationship with superstition.  A single Magpie has long been regarded as a portent of doom.  Apocryphally the Magpie was the only bird not to sing to Jesus as he died on the cross, how's that for having your reputation sullied?!  Plays such as the Thieving Magpie, which became Rossini's La Gazza Ladra, have done their bit to cast the bird as a scoundrel. But once again, the suggestion that they are thieves and attracted by shiny things turns out to be myth, as scientists from Exeter University proved.

Historically, and to some extent even now, many people perform little rituals when in the presence of a single Magpie.  Sometimes they tip their hat, or salute with a cheery "Morning General" (I'm so tempted to adopt this one myself), others cross themselves, or immediately look for a second magpie or a crow to cancel out the "bad luck" from coming across the single bird.

Then there's the historic bird lore that is embedded in "that" song:


One for sorrow
Two for joy, 
Three for a girl, 
Four for a boy, 
Five for silver
Six for gold 
Seven for a secret left untold.


So, what was your reaction when you saw this shot of the bird? Were you initially repulsed by the Magpie?