  Cosmic-ray photons above 10^19 eV can convert in the geomagnetic field and
initiate a preshower, i.e. a particle cascade before entering the atmosphere.
We compare the preshower characteristics at the southern and northern sites of
the Pierre Auger Observatory. In addition to a shift of the preshower patterns
on the sky due to the different pointing of the local magnetic field vectors,
the fact that the northern Auger site is closer to the geomagnetic pole results
in a different energy dependence of the preshower effect: photon conversion can
start at smaller energies, but large conversion probabilitites (>90%) are
reached for the whole sky at higher energies compared to the southern Auger
site. We show how the complementary preshower features at the two sites can be
used to search for ultra-high energy photons among cosmic rays. In particular,
the different preshower characteristics at the northern Auger site may provide
an elegant and unambiguous confirmation if a photon signal is detected at the
southern site.
