2012 Magpie Season

[g-boaf]

I haven't encountered any yet. I try to feed the local ones around where I ride in the hope that it might make them more friendly towards me.

Good luck with that - hope it works as the one that I see near my work swoops me on the bike but when I walk through the carpark it leaves me alone (I don't feed it). The one at home will also swoop me on my bike but will eat worms out of my hand (even when wearing cycle gear) he just seems to hate the bike.

The one around here, when it was a youngster used to walk around my front yard, following me.

I quite remember the first day it did it - I was sitting on the front steps, and it came walking up - and decided it liked the look of my shoelaces. So it started tugging at them. The parent bird decided it would have a play with them too. Wonderful! I had the biggest grin on my face ever on that morning.

And since then - I occasionally give it some little bits and pieces of left overs, along with a ready supply of fresh water, nothing too much - but enough that it will hopefully teach its youngsters when they come along that I'm not a problem. It still walks around and warbles away quietly when I'm outside. It seems pretty friendly - and I hope it will remain that way, and will not be scared by my bicycle.

They are amazingly intelligent birds - just that some of them are a bit overzealous in their protective parenting.

[gorilla monsoon]

Yeah, knob was a general poke at your humour (glad you seen it that way) .
I laughed at him crying but mum wasn't too chuffed at me so I clammed up and laughed on the inside

Ps, what was a kraut doing pointing a cheap American rifle at you ? Don't those buggers use steyr ( think they did when I was a squadie)

Well, good to see we are all friends.

Honestly, I only assumed it was an M-16 the German soldier was holding. I have no knowledge nor love of firearms and for all I know it could have been a Remington or Winchester.

Same as I don't know the brand of the handgun a Thai copper pointed at me in Bangkok a few years ago when he mistook me for a western criminal of some kind in a case of mistaken identity (apparently all westerners look alike).

I also had a copper in LA unclip his holster (is that what they do?) when I told him what I thought of him during an incident and suggested he ask his mum and dad to get married.

Anyhoo, as for the maggies, they are only doing what we all do and just protecting their families.

I am having fun with a couple of protective spur-wing plovers on my morning ride. They are good for the reflexes though and just doing what comes naturally.

Plover dodging was almost a sport at my school when I was a beardless youth so my 30 seconds of fun on the way out and 30 seconds on the return brings back old memories.

[g-boaf]

Masked Lapwings (Plovers) are among the worst I've seen. Very aggressive. I've not got any of them nearby where I am, thank heavens.

[westab]

Masked Lapwings (Plovers) are among the worst I've seen. Very aggressive. I've not got any of them nearby where I am, thank heavens.

Agree - they are nasty but I think that they do nest on the ground - we have alot near where I live which is a surprise with the number of cats people keep but let out at night.

[g-boaf]

Masked Lapwings (Plovers) are among the worst I've seen. Very aggressive. I've not got any of them nearby where I am, thank heavens.

Agree - they are nasty but I think that they do nest on the ground - we have alot near where I live which is a surprise with the number of cats people keep but let out at night.

Yes, that's right - they do nest on the ground which makes them very vulnerable to cats, dogs and other predators, hence their aggression. Butcherbirds are also bad - but I've not had any trouble with them yet (fingers crossed!).

I find the butcherbirds worse, as they attack in groups of up to 10. One starts screeching away and then nine reinforcements arrive seemingly from nowhere! When they are nesting, they only need to see you through a window and they'll start going. Very aggressive birds.

[wurtulla wabbit]

Masked Lapwings (Plovers) are among the worst I've seen. Very aggressive. I've not got any of them nearby where I am, thank heavens.

Not wrong, these little buggers chased my mate all over the fairway at beerwah golf course
They must have been nesting at the base of a tree near his ball

We were pissing ourselves watching him trying to outrun them in a cart waving his club like a lasso !

[Alycat]

That'll serve you right for straying off the M7 Cycleway Ken

Well, I have been good since then and not strayed ... but... twice on Wed and again coming back from Preston ride on Friday, got hit by the magpie just north of the first underpass north of the M4... he was there last year too... or maybe it was a relative

BTW Tim, next time you feel going doing that McGrath's Hill detour out to the turf farms and feel like some company, let me know

[Fe]

Couldn't believe it - yesterday, July The old McGrath's Hill Bunnings magpie got me on the way out, bang on the back of the neck, had to use my pump on the way back.

Think he has moved about 50 metres towards Windsor...

I that magpie should be keeping score, as the bugger got me last week as well.

[MREJ]

We were down at Razorback a couple of weeks ago, and my wife got bombed by a magpie near the little church just north of Cawdor. 4 or 5 swoops, but no contact. I think it's probably the same one that's been there in the gum trees the last few years.

[westab]

Got swooped the first time this morning - just near home in the Western Sydney parklands (near Richmond road at Dean Park). this is a new "friend" at the back of the creek who only swooped once so not too bad. Will be on the lookout for him from now on and also make sure that I am always wearing eye protection there from now on.

[wurtulla wabbit]

one has decided to move into our cul de sac and woshed past me a couple of times, not too close but enough to let me know it was there.

I tried to feed it some bread later but wouldn't eat it, clever bastid !

[Mapomatic]

My wifes family moved to the country in the 80s. Her grandad was a keen bird lover, and kept a large aviary with lots of different types of birds at his home in Brisbane. When He helped the family move to the farm, he noticed there was a magpie swooping them, quite near the house. With some sorrow, he shot the bird, as he believed that swooping was a learned response for many magpies. There are to this day many other magpies on the property, but none of them ever swoop or attack. Kind of a sad story, as I love the song of the magpies, but having been swooped incessantly, especially at Mt Annan mtb track, I wonder if he wasnt onto something.

[skull]

A local council where I use to live would shoot reported swooping magies.

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[Johndec]

There is a magpie that has taken up residence in a tree a few hundred metres from my house. It has been swooping me for the last 2 weeks. The other day I turned into the street and there was some grot on fixie pedalling down the street doing about 10 km/h. I usually ride down there at about 25 km/h. I hung back thinking that at last someone else would cope the wrath of the psycho magpie... Well the bast@rd completely ignored the hairy, non helmeted target and went for me!!

Why? Is it because it recognises me as a regular target for its misdirected wrath? Or is it is because I wear a helmet? Or is it because I wear a red helmet (red rag to a bull?)

Edit: I know bulls are colour blind and it's the movement not the colour that agitates them but AFAIK birds are not colour blind.

[Old and Rusty]

The ones around my house are pretty tame, one even plays hide and seek behind the camper van with my eldest dog. Saw this photo on facebook.

[wurtulla wabbit]

They're extremely clever birds, really are but I won't tolerate this pecker if it attacks my kids, it will have a swift demise if it continues it's path of terrorism?

[g-boaf]

On the Greystanes Canal cycling path l got bombed by a magpie or butcherbird. Around the Bayfield Road, Macquarie Road and Hoad Place area going towards Holroyd High School.

No screaming note (or clicking of beak that the butcherbirds do), first thing I knew was CLANG - and saw the shadow and shape flying away. Nice mark on the side of the helmet.

It only swooped the once - as soon as it made contact I sped up from 24km/h to about 35km/h and stayed like that until well clear (ie, gone past Holroyd HS). My first time being swooped in ages and first time this year.

Odd thing is that it didn't bother me on my way out - and hasn't bothered me ever before there. Must be a new one to the area.

The ones around my house are pretty tame, one even plays hide and seek behind the camper van with my eldest dog. Saw this photo on facebook.

That thing looks mean!

[gorilla monsoon]

They're extremely clever birds, really are but I won't tolerate this pecker if it attacks my kids, it will have a swift demise if it continues it's path of terrorism?

Now, now, your missus tolerated your pecker!

[DoogleDave]

During my 100km ride last Sunday I endured 4 separate magpie attacks/swoops.

Little buggers, they certainly scare the crap out of you when you're not expecting it.

I just waved my hand above my head/helmet as I kept riding and once I reached their territories "boundary", they gave up and flew away.

I've read that printing out a set of eyes and sticking them atop the back of your helmet can deter them (somewhat) as they tend to hover and not swoop as much if they think you are looking at them.
Haven't tried it as yet but if anyone is interested here is a link that has PDF printouts (as well as some interesting info about magpies and their swooping habits).
http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/plants-and-animals/native-plants-and-animals/problem-wildlife/swooping-birds/swoop-off-kit

Dave

[MarkG]

Eyes and cable ties etc don't work mate.
They are protecting their nest and nothing deters them.

[Dean Whittle]

I got swooped once last week by a magpie at Riverwood, at the end of the M5 cycleway, only came at me twice before I made it out of his territory. It was the first time I've been swooped in nearly 30yrs.

And then today I was pestered by an intelligent little pecker on McEvoy Street Alexandria, long story short, he came at me twice riding through his 'territory', I detoured down a laneway and thought I'd lost him. I took a breather for 5 or 10mins then went back to head home, only to find the pecker sitting on a power pole waiting for me ... this time he came in hard, hitting my helmet (white) once with either claws or beak, and my shoulder once with his wing. I got to top speed pretty quickly and got out of dodge.

[wombatK]

Eyes and cable ties etc don't work mate.
They are protecting their nest and nothing deters them.

Might not work for you, but I've found them very effective. They won't stop the
one in 100 psycho magpie from swooping and wing clapping above
your head, but cable ties will stop the helmet strike. Birds don't like striking
sharp pointy objects like the ends of tree branches or cable ties.

[duncanm]

Got a swoop this morning on Pembroke St coming up the hill past CSIRO.

Just a swoop and a crack.. no contact.

He'll be a busy bugger this spring.. that's a well trafficked route.

[queequeg]

Got a swoop this morning on Pembroke St coming up the hill past CSIRO.

Just a swoop and a crack.. no contact.

He'll be a busy bugger this spring.. that's a well trafficked route.

Great! Got swooped only the once there last year. It is the only part of my commute that has no alternative. I bypass Ryrie St after last year I got pecked on the face and the little bugger drew blood. Dunno if he is back, and I am not keen to find out!

[scotto]

McGraths Hill McDonalds on WIndsor rd.
Same bird that got me a month or so ago around the corner from here and drew blood.
Satan himself bred this bird for his evil plans. swooped and hit about 10 times over >100m (AT) 45-50km/h.

I was more prepared coming back and stopped when i saw the bastard come towards me. He sat on the post above me, didnt respond to yelling , shaking the post or throwing things. After a minute he didnt budge, and i made a break for it as fast as i could.
I knew it was a strava 800m sprint ahead where I'd recently lost the KOM, so maybe this might motivate me.
Its hard to ride fast yelling f#*k off to a bird, waving an arm around wildly, whilst trying to keep the speed above 47km/h, hold a straight line, and not look like too much of a dick to the other traffic, who i'm sure were laughing !
As it was the creature managed to nip my ear, but didnt draw blood.

Cant wait to see the strava time. The first half of the sprint was definitely faster than ever before.

Now to work out how to carry the tennis racket down there and put the bird out of my misery before he causes an accident. I reckon an overhead volley aiming him on the road should be enough for the trucks to finish the job.