Magpie season is upon us: here’s how best to avoid getting swooped

Watch your head, it’s magpie season. Every year between August and October/November, magpies nest around the North Shore, and three to four weeks into that period — about now — the young begin to hatch. Maggies can be highly territorial during nesting season, even to humans who have no intention of climbing a tree.

Local cyclists — often targeted by swooping maggies — have reported numerous incidents to the Lorikeet, including multiple direct hits. Bike North cycling club says its members have been attacked on the corner of Remuera St and Mowbray Rd, Willoughby.

Elsewhere, the Magpie Alert website — where residents can log swooping on a map for others — records more incidents on the corner of Selwyn and Russell streets in Wollstonecraft, and Avon Street in Cammeray. “The Avon Street swooper is back for another year,” the latter alert states.

So how can you protect yourself?

Eye contact

Holding eye contact with magpies is a strong deterrent to swooping, according to the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). If you’re able to, look the magpie in the eye while walking, not running, away from the bird’s nesting area. Magpies can remember several dozen faces, and so the aim is to let them get to know you. 

Sewing false eyes on the back of your hat or wearing sunglasses on the back of your head “works for some, not for others”, the NPWS said.

Keep your cool 

“Male adults are using their body language – beak clapping, whooshing above your head and screeching – to warn you to keep away from their eggs or newly-hatched chicks,” the Australian Museum said. 

Remaining calm during a magpie attack is challenging, but they are only acting to defend their territory and young. Acting aggressively, running, or flapping your arms about only intensifies the bird’s sense of threat and can make the swooping worse. 

Let them be

While magpie swooping can cause injuries to the head, the native birds are protected under state biodiversity law. That means that any attempt to harm or move a magpie, its eggs or its nest is a criminal act in NSW. 

According to Gisela Kaplan, a Professor of Animal Behaviour at the University of New England, Australian Magpies are intelligent birds, and are known to sing, play hide and seek, and even mourn their dead.

Image credit: Lance via Flickr