2013 Annual Moving Target Award

[open roader]

HECK!!! It's only July 29th and the feathers are flying already this season. Watch out fellow riders as our feathered friends become our seasonal feathered foes........

Time to revive the moving target thread for 2013!

I propose the same rules as last year which I believe was :-

1 point per swoop
2 points if contact was made with any part of your body
4 points if the attack draws your blood........... (pics of wounds must be posted here for 4 point verifications )

Any swoop or accidental collision is accepted as a point scoring swoop
A swoop must reach to within approx. 1.5m or closer to be fairdinkum
Any sort of bird will do, magpies, ravens, wattlebirds......any sort of bird

Please - keep a running tally of your swooping points after every post to make it easy for all to keep up to date with the leading victims.........

Any other rules or suggestions welcomed - this thread is open to all BNA members to participate.........

[open roader]

I'll open the batting with one swoop yesterday - I was def. not expecting it - HR went up a fair few BPM.......

Running Total = 1 point.

[Kind_cir]

Well I come off my bike on Wednesday, and done my medial menisics. I am sure there was a bird within 1.5m , so that's one point right ?

Running total: 1point

[BastardSheep]

1 point per swoop
2 points if contact was made with any part of your body
4 points if the attack draws your blood........... (pics of wounds must be posted here for 4 point verifications )

So if it swoops 4 times in a single run, it's the same as blood being drawn? When I lived at Macquarie Park there was a magpie that'd swoop 8+ times before it finally turned back, but never got close enough for contact. Or did you mean 1 point per bird that swoops per ride?

Just a question - do they swoop after dark or only during daylight hours? How dark does it need to get? All of my cycling at the moment is 6:30pm onwards, I'm curious as to how much light there has to be at that time before I bring out the hedgehog/cableties.

[Wakatuki]

Damn, I had almost forgotten about this annual assault! Here we go...

[open roader]

So if it swoops 4 times in a single run, it's the same as blood being drawn? When I lived at Macquarie Park there was a magpie that'd swoop 8+ times before it finally turned back, but never got close enough for contact. Or did you mean 1 point per bird that swoops per ride?

Just a question - do they swoop after dark or only during daylight hours? How dark does it need to get? All of my cycling at the moment is 6:30pm onwards, I'm curious as to how much light there has to be at that time before I bring out the hedgehog/cableties.

If the bird wants to swoop you 8 times before you get out of there = 8 points.

I've worked outdoors in Magpie territories for decades and quite often finished up well after dark in an evening - never been swooped after sunset..............

Maybe we need to up the stakes and award 10 points for drawn blood..........? Why not?

[coffeeandwine]

I opened my account today which came as a bit of a surprise. Heading up the highway just outside Buninyong (yes, that Magpie again) and a single swoop. I tried to explain that it was a bit early in the season and the apparent temperature was -2°C, so it hardly qualified as Spring (perhaps he was just warming up). Could be a fun few weeks

[open roader]

Another 3 swoops from me (same magpie - just testing the waters...)

Running total = 4 points

[Kind_cir]

Well I not going that way again.... Past the school,. Big mistake, yes sir ree, nup not or the nest few months anyway.

Got swooped by the crazy local bird coming and going no bigie. That school yard tough bird however had me pinned down for at least 700 m. Path goes behind the school and down one side, and I was pinned down the whole way and for another 150 m after I turned right and headed away from the school.

Went home a different way.

So toda I was swooped apon at least 87 times, but to be fair only on 3 different occasions. So another 3 points for me.


4 points

[BianchiCam]

Thinking of cable tying a small rubber snake to the lid. Has anyone tried this?

[Kind_cir]

Thinking of cable tying a small rubber snake to the lid. Has anyone tried this?

Yes, yes I have, and a kookaburra tryed to eat it. Infact, there were 2 of them having a go at it and the rubber snake won.

[Summernight]

Thinking of cable tying a small rubber snake to the lid. Has anyone tried this?

Yes, yes I have, and a kookaburra tryed to eat it. Infact, there were 2 of them having a go at it and the rubber snake won.

Maybe try tying a fake, life-sized bird of prey or some predatory sort that eats magpies to the bike instead of the appetizing snake.

[Kind_cir]

Thinking of cable tying a small rubber snake to the lid. Has anyone tried this?

Yes, yes I have, and a kookaburra tryed to eat it. Infact, there were 2 of them having a go at it and the rubber snake won.

Maybe try tying a fake, life-sized bird of prey or some predatory sort that eats magpies to the bike instead of the appetizing snake.

Mmmmm I do have a croc head hear that I float in the pool. I have also seen the kids helmates that look like a croc and other animals.

[InTheWoods]

I don't think I'd be able to keep count. I'm up to about 10 points already, with no contact. Are they starting earlier than normal this year? Its been such a mild winter.

[BianchiCam]

B u g g e r o f f. with your 'mild Winter'!

F f f f f freezing in Vic......Lol...

[open roader]

A rare glorious, wind free sunny day here in SW Vic.

Two maggies for a total of 5 swoops. Still nothing diabolically close to contact .......yet.........

Running total = 9 points

[coffeeandwine]

A lovely day for a peaceful 60km until the same magpie spotted me:
Carry over points=1
3 swoops without contact=3 points
2 solid thumps to the helmet=4 points
Total = 8

[InTheWoods]

4 for me this morning, 14 total. Had another maggie do 2 swoops but they weren't within 1.5 meters so don't count.

[Kind_cir]

Well I not going that way again.... Past the school,. Big mistake, yes sir ree, nup not or the nest few months anyway.

Got swooped by the crazy local bird coming and going no bigie. That school yard tough bird however had me pinned down for at least 700 m. Path goes behind the school and down one side, and I was pinned down the whole way and for another 150 m after I turned right and headed away from the school.

Went home a different way.

So toda I was swooped apon at least 87 times, but to be fair only on 3 different occasions. So another 3 points for me.


4 points

Oh , i see how this works.

88 points

[coffeeandwine]

Carry over points = 8
swoops x6 = 6 points
contact x 3 (1 brush and last two big whacks) = 6 points
new total = 20 points
(All with same magpie on the A300 just beyond the 100kmh sign heading up out of Buninyong).

[BianchiCam]

Just back from a 90km ride though the Morno Pen in the hills and was thinking of this thread. Either I'm lucky or the local bird brigade are on strike as I've had nada swoops.....yet. Really don't want to break out my new fangled Maggie Helmet replesant with loads of cable ties!

[yarravalleyplodder]

did an 80km ride on sunday and 150m from home the usual suspect has decided its spring, well 3 good swoops and one whack on the helmet

Carry Over= 0
3 x Swoop = 3 points
1 x whack of the helmet = 2 points

Current Total = 5 points

[Andrew09]

M7 cycleway Sydney , yesterday Friday August 16 approx 2km south of the halfway bubbler - bar steward of a magpie - heard the air displacement from its wings and its shadow on the ground in front of me. Swooped me three times - then I rode faster and waved and yelled like a banshee. It gave up. They are the scariest moments you can ever have.

[Kind_cir]

Plovers on the swoop up pigeon springs. Surveyors peg to the rescue. Maybe I should change my helmet.

113

[Marto]

First runs on the board for the season.

Magpie clicked its beak near my right ear last Thursday morning on Oxley Road inbound just before Gladstone Street.

1 point.

This is a regular spot for Magpie swoops/clicks/bellyflops into helmet. They roost in the trees in the park to the West of Oxley Road, and Swoop cyclists. You listen for the high pitched warning squawk, but there's not much you can do to stop them.