Angry birds, swoopy boiz or just misunderstood
To many pedestrians and cyclists they’re the black and white menace, death from above, swooping savages hell-bent on ruining a walk or ride. But as swooping seasons arrives — are magpies just misunderstood?
SA News
Don't miss out on the headlines from SA News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
To many pedestrians and cyclists they’re the black and white menace, death from above, swooping savages hell-bent on ruining a walk or ride.
As spring kicks into gear so does magpie swooping season, with hundreds of reports of attacks from across Adelaide and around the state already being made on social media sites created to warn people about the birds.
But one of Australia’s leading bird behaviour experts has appealed to South Australians to be tolerant of magpies over the next few weeks, saying they’re only doing what comes naturally and that they’re nowhere near as dangerous as people perceive them to be.
Gisela Kaplan, Professor in Animal Behaviour at the University of New England, said we needed to be patient when it came to magpie nesting season.
She said recent headlines surrounding the death of a 76-year-old cyclist in Wollongong who fell from his bike trying to avoid a swooping magpie were unfair to the bird.
“There’s a good word in the English language called accident,” Prof. Kaplan said.
“To define blame, I find that incredible. If a tortoise walks across the road and the driver swerves and ends up in the tree, would you then shoot the tortoise. To me it makes no sense.”
Prof. Kaplan said magpies often swooped cyclists as helmets prevented the birds – who can recognize individual humans – from identifying the rider.
“They use risk assessment, and look for clues if a person is dangerous or not,” she said.
“If you’re riding a bike and you have the feeling that there’s a magpie behind you, don’t go faster, look forward, slow down and whatever you do don’ t look back.
“That’s how accidents happen, as most magpies go for the back of the head – if you turn your head around, well the magpie can’t stop himself in the middle of his flight. That can cause injury, and even eye injury.”
Prof. Kaplan said the idea that magpies were aggressive animals was untrue, and that only some male birds swooped and only for a few weeks every year. And she said that they played a vital role in the Australian ecosystem.
“They are one of the most useful indigenous birds we have,” Prof. Kaplan said.
“They protect most of the small songbirds from predators – they are the police of the bush. We wouldn’t have any small songbirds left if there were no magpies.”
She said shooting the birds, as recently happened to a particularly swoop-happy magpie in Sydney, was unconscionable.
“This means the young ones in the nest will die, and that the female will lose her territory and become homeless,” Prof. Kaplan said.
“Only 6 to 15 per cent of any magpies in any given year are actually breeding – the few that have made it to a territory and a partner – so if we shoot them then we are shooting the best.”
Melbourne woman Danielle, who prefers not to use her last name and goes by the online moniker of The Magpie Whisperer, agreed with Prof. Kapalan that there was no malice in the birds’ behaviour.
“Magpies have no malice,” Danielle said.
“As they swoop, their intention is usually not to make physical contact with us, because if they do ‘rocket launch’ into us they are likely to break their neck from the force of the impact.”
Danielle said the best way to avoid being swooped was to simply avoid nesting magpies during spring.
“Alternatively, you can befriend the magpie and prove to him you’re not a threat by offering him a small appropriate treat as you walk past,” she said.
“And if you’re riding a bicycle I can’t urge you strongly enough to dismount and calmly walk past its area.”
For Whyalla cyclist Eric Brokken, the odd swoop is all part of taking a spring ride.
“This (the magpie pictured right) is the local magpie around the corner from my house,” Mr Brokken said.
“He’s a guaranteed swooper, and they make me laugh how they are so willing to take us humans on to defend their territory.
“Knowing my head is protected by a helmet gives me the confidence to have a laugh and ride by.”
WANT TO KNOW WHERE THE SWOOPIEST MAGGIES ARE? GO TO MAGPIEALERT.COM TO CHECK OUT YOUR AREA