Swooping magpie pix

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birdbrain
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby birdbrain » Mon Sep 16, 2013 2:31 pm

When I lived in Canberra there used to be one that would land on your back and actually go you while it hung on :shock:

I think that was Kevin Rudd.
Image

kimmie
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby kimmie » Mon Sep 16, 2013 3:22 pm

Thanks so much Tracey... I hope I won't find any of them on my ride to Drouin...

Cheers :-)
TraceyG wrote: Hi Kimmie,

Sorry to hear about your fall. As you can see on the video, I didn't try to swerve or get away from the magpie and he never actually hit me. I have found it best to just keep on riding and get out of their territory as quickly as possible.

I know lots of riders who swear by cable ties, and others who stick pictures of a pair of eyes on their helmet. At the moment i have neither and only get swooped when I am riding alone. Who knows?

Anyway, you won't encounter this particular bird on your planned ride as Trafalgar is further easr than Drouin.

Good luck and enjoy.
"Ride like the wind, Bullseye!"

kimmie
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby kimmie » Mon Sep 16, 2013 3:25 pm

Dave!

As always, a good and an extensive reply from you, mate! Cheers for taking time and writing this one. Truly appreciate it. Really!

I think the next time I got one behind me, I will just unclip and walk my bike...

Cheers again Dave...

DoogleDave wrote:Kimmie,
As TrailGumby mentioned, the most important thing is to stay focussed on the road and what you are doing.

It is VERY easy to become distracted and try to look back to see where the bird is however this can easily and quickly see you on the wrong side of the road and should there be oncoming traffic - well, you can imagine the rest.

Depending on if the sun is out and the direction you are heading, you may be able to keep an eye on your shadow which will (somewhat) alert you when the bird is incoming.....and if it all gets too much, or the bird is too aggressive and it feels too dangerous to keep riding - STOP and get off your bike.

The bird may retreat into a nearby tree however once you start off again and should you still be in the birds perceived territory, it will resume it's attack until you have crossed its boundary....so be careful (or walk your bike down the road).

If you feel safe enough to keep on riding I often find waving one hand across the top of my helmet can deter them from making contact - and the other hand stays firmly on the top bars where I have more control of the bike. Otherwise I may get down into the drops and assume an aero position.
Not only can I tuck down low and protect my face if needed but with my hands in the drops I can hit the brakes with more stopping power, should I need to.

Cable ties can deter them from making contact but it "can" also provole the more aggressive birds to instead perch on your shoulder and attack your ear/face/etc.
I'd much prefer a tap on the top of the helmet than have one land on me....

Best of all, try to avoid known areas where aggressive birds are and enjoy your riding.

They are a nuisance whilst riding this time of year, but I'm sure the birds get sick of flying out of the trees all the time to protect their nesting area as well.
I wonder if the birds have a forum where they can bitch and moan about how they had to swoop x number of cyclists today??? LOL

Dave
"Ride like the wind, Bullseye!"

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ldrcycles
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Sep 22, 2013 7:22 am

I saw a magpie on my commute the other day that had (there's no other way of describing it) gone "full retard".

Standing a couple of metres off the side of a busy road, feathers slightly fluffed up as though it was sick, head cocked to one side, beak slightly open and not moving a millimetre. Took me over a minute to turn around and ride back to it, still the same, clicked out of my loud pedals, nothing. It was only when I was about half a metre away it snapped out of whatever trance it was in and flew up to a tree looking perfectly fine.

Weird.
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macca33
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby macca33 » Sun Sep 22, 2013 1:28 pm

TraceyG wrote:And here is the video. I am still learning to use the editing software so it's a bit rough. After the first runthrough I have put some of the swoops in on slow mo.

[url]http://youtu.be/xcKA1debTQM/[url]

I 'spose one good thing is that despite all the rain we've had, North Canal Road is not under water...hahaha.

That Maggie certainly was single-minded of effort!

cheers
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yarravalleyplodder
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby yarravalleyplodder » Sun Sep 22, 2013 5:10 pm

g-boaf wrote:
A mini phalanx system for our helmets with automatic target mode would make us considerably safer. :) If someone can develop such a system, they will be rich.
I will happily buy one, I am over the buggers, its been 3 weeks now :twisted: and every time I wish I could take them out
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clackers
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby clackers » Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:16 pm

yarravalleyplodder wrote:
I will happily buy one, I am over the buggers, its been 3 weeks now :twisted: and every time I wish I could take them out
I think Shimano's next Di2 system will have integrated Patriot missile support, YVP.

Campognolo have actually been working on this for longer, but it's not pretty enough yet for their designers. :)

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AKO
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby AKO » Sun Sep 22, 2013 8:35 pm

clackers wrote:
yarravalleyplodder wrote:
I will happily buy one, I am over the buggers, its been 3 weeks now :twisted: and every time I wish I could take them out
I think Shimano's next Di2 system will have integrated parrot missile support, YVP.

Campognolo have actually been working on this for longer, but it's not pretty enough yet for their designers. :)
Fixed it for you.
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TraceyG
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby TraceyG » Tue Sep 24, 2013 8:54 pm

I'm starting to think my magpie is a camera-whore!

kimmie
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby kimmie » Wed Sep 25, 2013 12:09 am

TraceyG wrote:I'm starting to think my magpie is a camera-whore!
Hi Tracey

Was it the same 'event' as before, or another one?
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il padrone
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby il padrone » Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:28 am

Was there another cyclist riding with you in the second video? In my experience it is unusual for a magpie to swoop when there is more than one rider present - they normally only swoop solitary riders. I've been caught out more than once, getting swooped solidly, then stopping with the camera out ready to photograph my mates being swooped as they came along. The darned bird just sat in the tree.
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby TraceyG » Wed Sep 25, 2013 9:31 am

It's the same bird on the same section of road but on a different ride. Yes, there is another rider with me, my husband. We have figured out that this bird swoops the last rider in the bunch (our Sunday milk run is regularly swooped by this bird), so I told my husband to ride just ahead of me so that I (my camera) was the bird's target.

ronicastro
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby ronicastro » Wed Sep 25, 2013 10:04 am

Hi TraceyG,
Did you manage to upload the video of the magpie swooping you? I would love to see it!

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ldrcycles
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby ldrcycles » Wed Sep 25, 2013 6:17 pm

il padrone wrote:Was there another cyclist riding with you in the second video? In my experience it is unusual for a magpie to swoop when there is more than one rider present - they normally only swoop solitary riders. I've been caught out more than once, getting swooped solidly, then stopping with the camera out ready to photograph my mates being swooped as they came along. The darned bird just sat in the tree.
I remember doing a mass participation ride a few years ago (the GC100 I think) where a magpie tried it's very best to swoop every one of the hundreds of riders :lol: .
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TraceyG
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby TraceyG » Fri Sep 27, 2013 1:50 pm

ronicastro wrote:Hi TraceyG,
Did you manage to upload the video of the magpie swooping you? I would love to see it!
Hi Ron, yes, there is a video upload, a couple of posts above. Plus much of this footage was used on Channel Seven news in Melbourne earlier this week.

kimmie
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby kimmie » Fri Sep 27, 2013 3:13 pm

"Ride like the wind, Bullseye!"

william
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Re: Swooping magpie pix

Postby william » Thu Oct 03, 2013 9:00 pm

On a recent Audax ride through the Mallee I made an observation from a mid height recumbent. My previous experiences showed they won't attack me low to the ground whilst other riders are around. I was laughing at the rider in front of me being attacked being sure it won't attack me but the little bugger picked on me after it finished with the guy in front.
The other thing I observed was that the attackers were close to towns. Those away from any clustered habitats just watched as we rode by. Didn't stop me from being cautiously vigilant though. Then there was the night life….

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