Magpies, the harbinger of happiness and good luck…

Magpies, the harbinger of happiness and good luck……….

While roaming around Chaki Mor in Himachal Pradesh looking for the varied species of birds that the place seems to attract, we stopped at the old Hanuman Temple atop one of many hillocks there. Our stopover was not to do much with paying obeisance at the temple but more for resting in the shade that the tree in the compound of the temple offered us. We spotted a couple of red-billed Blue Magpie. Before I could frame them in my camera, they flew away in a splash. Probably, the bird is of shy types. They looked majestic in their whites and blues and the red bills. I regretted not having clicked them. After resting for some time, with no magpies in sight, we moved on.

While returning, we again stopped at the Temple to take the chance of finding those birds again and also take our lunch that we carried with us. The moment our car stopped, we saw them flying to hide themselves in the thick branches of a tree in one of the corners of the temple. However, my camera could not click them because of the thick braches that hid them. We waited patiently with my camera all ready to click the moment I could get a chance. But the Magpies did not relent. Finally, we decided to leave to return again after few days. I kept on reminding myself, I need to see the Magpies again.

The following week, we again came back and again stopped at the same temple. Hold. The Magpies were there with their exotic plumage, nibbling at the offerings in the temple. To our delight, this time they did not vanish but stayed back. Were they now recognizing us? I think so. Birds and animals do recognize and feel comfortable with familiar faces. We had become part of them and they became part of us. We are all part of the same Big Family comprising of the plants, birds, fish, and animals and of course the human beings.

A few words about the Red-billed Magpies need to be typed to complete yet another leg of the journey. As per Wikipedia, “The red-billed blue magpie is a species of bird in the crow family. Corvidae. It is about the same size as the Eurasian magpie but has a much longer tails of any corvid. It is 65-68 cm long and weighs 196-232 grams”. Even though shy of human beings, it gives harsh high pitched contact calls , kyak-kyak- kyak- kyak, plus a range of other calls and whistles. It feeds on fruits, small birds, eggs and insects and often feeds on ground.

Magpie is a symbol of happiness in Chinese culture. The singing of Magpie is considered auspicious by the Chinese as they believe it foretells happiness and good luck. The Manchu minority in China consider them to be sacred birds. The legend says that Fukulon, the goddess from heaven one day ate a red fruit thrown by a magpie hovering above . Few months later, she gave a birth to a boy named Bukulirongshun who later became the forefather of Manchu minority. It is believed that the neighboring tribes felt threatened by the Manchu minority and decided to slaughter them. While all were hunted and killed, a boy named Fancha survived the genocide as Fancha ran from dawn to dusk with hunters in hot pursuit. Ultimately, a magpie landed on his head and he stood motionless. The hunters thought that it was a tree trunk and went away in another direction looking for Fancha. Manchu minority survived extinction, thanks to this wonderful bird.

For me it was indeed a blessing to see the Magpies as part of my journey and to include them in my writings and collection of photographs.