Mum’s eye left ‘bloody and bruised’ after magpie swoop

A mum has issued a chilling warning after her eye was left “bloody and bruised” after a terrifying magpie attack.

A mum has been left with a bloody and bruised eye after a horror magpie attack during her morning beach walk.

The 40-year-old, who did not want to be named, was heading back to her car at Coogee in Sydney’s eastern suburbs when a “massive” magpie appeared from nowhere and swooped, injuring her left eye.

“It just came at me and took his beak and went into my left eye with a big pop,” she told Yahoo Australia.

She felt a “sharp pain” and ran to the nearest doctor’s office, who prescribed her antibiotics after confirming the bird had scratched it.

The mum claimed that when she picked up her medication, the pharmacist told her she was the third person to “come in with a bloody eye” after being attacked by what they believed to be the same magpie.

More than 182 magpie swooping injuries have been reported to Magpie Alert in 2024 as of Wednesday.

The woman needed antibiotics for her injury. Picture: Supplied

Now that ‘swooping season’ is well underway, Bird Life Australia national public affairs manager Sean Dooley gave some insight into how to protect from magpie attacks.

“Just walk calmly out of that swooping zone … and the swooping will stop,” he said.

“Walk back the way you’ve come until you can make sure that you’re out of the swooping zone. If people know they’re just defending their nest, they know the magpie isn’t going to keep chasing them.

“About the worst thing you can do is panic, run around and scream and try and retaliate.”

He said that measures such as eyes or spikes on a helmet could “work sometimes” but were “hit and miss”.

“It can help, but it’s not foolproof,” he said.

“If you are swooped, it does help if you’ve got sunglasses or something that you can put on to protect your eyes just in case.

“Best advice is once you’re swooped, see where the magpie has gone to … keep an eye on that magpie.

“It might mean they’re less likely to go again because they know you’re watching it … you’re more able to avoid it if you can see it coming rather than a stealth attack.”

Despite being an expert, Mr Dooley said he had often been attacked by swooping magpies.

The magpie was said to attack three other people in the same area. Picture: Facebook

“I’m out birdwatching a lot in spring. I probably went 20 years without being swooped once, but four or five years ago, I got whacked a couple times, it can happen to all of us,” he shared.

He said being swooped was “genuinely terrifying at times” and “can result in some terrible injuries”; however, understanding the behaviour of magpies is a great first step towards avoiding being attacked.

“It’s very easy to think these birds have just gone crazy and they hate everybody, but we know from all the research that in almost 100 per cent of cases, it’s only the male magpies that swoop,” he said.

“Even then it’s only about 10 per cent that swoop … and it’s only in that window when there are baby chicks in the nest.”

Mr Dooley said negative experiences with people shaped magpies’ perceptions, with the birds able to remember up to 30 faces within their neighbourhood and “stereotype” people.

“(It can) have flow-on effects for other people in the area … magpies will start swooping people who you look like,” he said.

-With NCA Newswire

Originally published as Mum’s eye left ‘bloody and bruised’ after magpie swoop