And are giant arseholes when they're nesting. In the country town I grew up in, a key footpath when walking to school would end up with 3 - 4 magpie nests in trees alongside it.

So us kids would compete to see who could last the longest walking past them, as soon as you ran, or put your backpack over your head to protect yourself, you lost.

No-one ever made it past the third nest without breaking.

They get some hate here but are lovely birds. Waking up in the bush to their song is quite special.

I know someone on a farm who had a few as pets. One somehow was taught to roll on its back and lift a fork/spoon like a barbell

Also a slightly confusing bird. Not a magpie for one, and even though they look like crows they are not corvids either. Meanwhile, a european magpie is a corvid. Made me realize I have no idea what a corvid really is.

Most foreigners picturing an Australian magpie might be picture something like the Australian Magpie-Lark, which looks a lot more like euro magpies and so on. But the Australian Magpie looks more like a crow or raven with white and black feathers. They even croak like crows, but alas, not related apparently.