Sharing food with magpies

Kwak Jeong-sik
The author is an essayist.

When you think of capital cities from around the world, such as Tokyo, Beijing, Moscow, London and Washington, you realize that none of them are surrounded by mountains like Seoul. Among the large and small mountains around Seoul, Mount Daemo, about 300 meters high, is located about five kilometers (three miles) south of the Han River. Next to it is Mount Guryong, about the same height, and Mount Cheonggye is located to the south.

Of these mountains, Mount Daemo gives a cozy feel, as it is very earthy. It is the birthplace of the barefoot walking community, which is now popular nationwide.

While walking along the path of Mount Daemo, you can see magpies’ nests in the trees along the roads. You can see other birds in the forests such as nuthatches, flycatchers, marsh tits and Eurasian jays and occasionally hear woodpeckers chirping. Because of the many birds living in the forests of Mount Daemo, it makes a contrast to neighboring Mount Cheonggye, which is home to a wide variety of insects.

To learn more about Mount Daemo’s habitat, I visited the management office of the mountain and met with Kim Gyeong-yeon. She introduced herself as follows. “I grew up in a village on Mount Jiri, so I always missed the mountains and nature. And I became a certified forest guide and have been working here for 10 years. We regularly check the ecological changes of the mountain and exchange information with the people who work at nearby mountains and parks.”

She organized a seminar for those curious about the birds of Mount Daemo. One attendee asked if the piles of logs stacked in various places in the forests were for heating the management office. Kang Chun-ja, a member of a birdwatching club, gave an answer. “They are called ‘biotope’. They have warms insides, and over time, caterpillars, which are food for birds, grow inside. And they became food for the resident birds,” she said. “People think there are more resident birds than migratory birds in Korea, but resident birds are actually only 10 percent, and 90 percent are migratory birds. While migratory birds have plenty of food because they live in the wild, resident birds in the cities don’t. Biotope provides food for hungry city birds.”

After her well-informed explanation, I asked her about magpies’ close family bonding. “Parent magpies eat the excrement of their babies,” she said. “When they do not eat it, they carry it and threw it away. It is intended to hide their babies’ presence from natural enemies.

“They also have very good memory, so when a stranger appears in the neighborhood, the magpies warble to warn their family and friends,” she said. “People mistakenly believe that magpies are singing because they are welcoming guests. But this misunderstanding has brought them closer to people.”

Kang’s explanation reminded me of the Korean tradition of “preparing food for magpies.” In rural areas, a few persimmons are left on trees, making a beautiful color comparison with the blue sky of late autumn season. People can harvest all persimmons but leave just a few, calling them “magpie food.” Perhaps it was an intention to attract magpies, known to bring good messages.

Pearl Buck, who wrote The Good Earth, during her visit to Korea’s southern town of Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang, asked why a few persimmons were hanging on a tree. “Were they left because they were hard to pick?” she asked. “No. They are for magpies,” her guide told her. “They belong to hungry winter birds.” Hearing this, she said she has seen the most noble thing in Korea.

If the West has a spirit of tolerance, we have a spirit of sharing, symbolized by the magpie feed. As children, we thought that when a magpie sings, a welcome guest would arrive. We had a warm tradition to greet guests. Parents would take the cold hands of their children’s friends visiting their homes and place them under the hot blankets. They would feel sorry for guests, feed them a hot meal and put them to bed. They would take care of friends as long as they could and even offered them money when they left. Not long ago, those stories were nothing strange. “Come visit, and eat dinner at my house!” was a common phrase.

But today, when someone says they will visit, we ask why. We live in a world where the mere mention of a guest or even a visit feels like an invasion and disturbance.

Lunar New Year is coming. Let’s check in with relatives and old friends. You have your cell phone right next to you, don’t you?

Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.