Do you salute/whistle at magpies?

[MirandaGoshawk]

If so, can you please explain why you do it? Have just spent the day out with a friend and she did this a lot. I think there were maybe two pairs of birds flying about and she both saluted and whistled at them several times while we were talking. I found it a bit 'look at me' and she couldn't tell me why she did it, except that her family did. Nothing on web that I could find.TIA

I salute to one magpie and say good morning. I also have no idea why? Been doing it for years 😬

I say Good Morning Magpie quietly. It’s to ward off bad luck.

Gloucestershire if this helps locate the different magpie traditions.

Also you know you have to count them to see what’s coming? 1 for sorrow 2 for joy etc?

I blow kisses at Magpies and have had awkward moments involving random passers by in my line more than once.

My husband blesses himself and he’s not even religious. Definitely learned behavior from his upbringing, I let him off.
If we were out and the same birds were flying around he would only do it once.

Yes, salute to ward off bad luck. I do it because my Dad does.

I salute single magpies - it's just an ingrained superstition (warding off sorrow)

There was another person on the school run, who I found out was brought up very close to me, and we used near identical words. There are several variants, and I expect it's a regional thing.

Spitting at the end of the salutation is quite common too

"Morning Mr Magpie how is your wife", and then I tap my imaginary cap.

I say "hello mr magpie how's your wife" every time I see just one. Not sure why I just always have, now my 4 year old does the same.

I'm a bit superstitious about Magpies, feel a bit like bad luck is coming if I see only one for some reason and will sometimes keep watching a single one until it's mate joins it. (I know that sounds bonkers!)

Don't think I'd salute or whistle in public though.

I think I read somewhere that they are usually in pairs, and usually only alone in cold/bad weather.

I sing the theme to Magpie, the children's series when I see them.

Yes, have looked like an utter lunatic on several occasions but it is ingrained in me.

Also bless myself when a hearse drives past me and have to restrain myself from genuflecting in the cinema

I salute single ones to ward off sorrow, learned from my dad I think!

No I don't. We were watching a magpie launching himself at our bird feeder this morning trying to get seed out of it, very comical.
I have heard of people doing it as a superstition, but I don't pay any attention to superstitions

My mother used to say good morrow good sir to the first magpie she saw each day and then ignore the others.

Funny to read all the different superstitions

OP Your friend would have annoyed me too. She couldn’t have been very good company is all she did was engage with the birds.

I say "Good morning to you, Mr Magpie, sir. And how's your wife?" accompanied by a salute.

My friend does it, and I think it's charming so I do it too!

If there is only one magpie you are supposed to say "good morning Mr. Magpie and how are your wife and children?".
Not that I actually say it out loud .
If there are two or more then all is well.

I salute single ones and say 'top of the morning to you Mr Jones'. Which is insane.

OP Your friend would have annoyed me too. She couldn’t have been very good company is all she did was engage with the birds.

I disagree, I thoroughly enjoy people engaging with wildlife. Much more amusing than reciting dreary anecdotes about their MIL's health.

Of course! You must always pay your respects to the magpie. I salute and say good day captain.

I bow three times (more of a nod the head which is easier in company) my dad does and I’ve always thought of them as lucky and on some superstitious Mumbo jumbo level think of it as diffusing bad luck and bringing good. Only superstition I’ve got apart from a pinch of salt over the shoulder if I’ve spilt any! (I sound like a nutter reading back)

Yep, salute and say good morning to a lone magpie.

I heard that it's because magpies mate for life so to see one on its own means it could've lost it's mate, hence the reason it means bad luck? Not sure how true that is though.

I follow the French tradition. Good morning Magpie, and how are your seven children. But most of us know the one for sorrow mantra? trots off to look it up

Yes, I say Good morning Mr Magpie, Mrs Magpie, and occasionally Junior magpie if there are three of them.

Or Good afternoon, obviously.

There's a lot of them round here, sometimes I see several close together, but I don't talk to all of them!

I salute single magpies three times, saying at the same time "good morning/afternoon/evening Mr Magpie" three times, and counting backwards from ten! It's the only thing I'm superstitious about and it properly worries me if I see a single magpie! Ridiculous but too old to change now.

No, because it's ridiculous. They are clever birds, as are all forbids, but they don't bring bad luck.
My mother was very superstitious and I found the whole lot of them pointless.