Seeing a magpie
Seeing a magpie is a classic English omen, read by how many birds you count. Magpies themselves live by raising the alarm for their group, which makes one in the yard a good reason to ask who looks out for you, and for whom you would.
What it may mean
When a cat crosses a field where magpies live, the whole neighborhood hears about it. One magpie starts a harsh, rattling call, others fly in, and soon a ring of black-and-white birds is scolding the intruder from the fences. No single magpie could chase off a cat, but together they make sure everyone knows where it is. A magpie in your yard can be your nudge to think about your own warning network: the friend who would tell you something hard, the neighbor who would notice your mail piling up. It works both ways, too. English lore counted magpies to read fortune; the birds themselves seem more interested in counting on each other.
Depending on how you saw it
A magpie riding on a deer or a cow
In the American West, black-billed magpies often perch on the backs of deer, elk or cattle and pick off ticks, and the big animal stands still for it. Think of an arrangement in your life that helps both sides, and whether you have ever said thank you for your half of it.
A magpie circling something new
Despite their reputation as thieves, magpies are wary of new or unfamiliar objects and often circle one for a while before going close. Caution comes first, curiosity second. What new thing in front of you deserves a slow approach rather than a grab?
A domed nest high in a tree
Black-billed magpies build big stick nests with a roof over the top, and a pair may start several before choosing one. The roof takes extra work but keeps out crows and hawks. What corner of your life could use a roof, a little protection built in ahead of time?
Why it happens in nature
The black-billed magpie lives across western North America and the yellow-billed magpie only in California; the Eurasian magpie is the bird of the old European rhymes. Magpies belong to the crow family and are among the few animals that seem to recognize themselves in a mirror. A 2014 study in England found them wary of shiny objects rather than drawn to them.
What folk beliefs say
England
Grose, quoted by Brand, recorded an English way of counting: it was unlucky to see first one magpie and then more, but two foretold marriage or merriment, three a successful journey, four unexpected good news and five that you would soon be in great company.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, p. 214. View the page
Korea
In Korea, magpies making a big clatter early in the morning were taken as an omen of good fortune.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, p. 659. View the page
Denmark
In Denmark, a magpie perching on a house was a sign that a stranger was coming.
Source: Cora Linn Daniels; C. M. Stevans (eds.), Encyclopaedia of Superstitions, Folklore, and the Occult Sciences of the World, vol. 2 (1903), vol. 2, pp. 659-660. View the page
To reflect on
Whose alarm would you raise if you saw trouble heading their way?