Continuing the discussion from Post a photo from where you live:
They’re a little different to British magpies. Ours have white stripes across their wings. Do you have the weird superstition about magpies? Seeing one is bad luck. Seeing 2 is good luck. One is the sight you want to avoid. I didn’t know magpies from canaries until we moved here. People still believe the myth and I’m ashamed to tell you I now get a little worried if there’s a solo one. You can undo the harm by touching your forehead and saying “good day, Mr Magpie.”
There’s a rhyme about them too:
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
And 4 for a boy.
There probably used to be more, it sounds like a superstition hundreds of years old. I will neither confirm or deny saluting solitary magpies.