Magpies Starting Early

My crackpot theory involves carrying about a small bit of beef mince. And throw it out when the bird starts the bombing run.
I haven’t tried it yet. But maybe then it’ll no longer see you as a threat.
I dunno. Worth a shot?

Forget cable ties (and painting eyes on the back of the helmet, if you’ve been around long enough to remember that) – avoidance is the best strategy. Join the national campaign and put Canberra magpies on the map!

Australian Magpie Attacks – Spring 2010

I know – there’s nothing for Canberra this season but we’ve made a start here.

Be aware that you’ll need a Google account to add an entry to the map.

skate boards make good magpie bats

niftydog said :

Mother-in-law got swooped in the first week of August. I copped a half baked attempt the week after. The infamous CSIRO maggie had a few practice runs at me a few weeks back, but haven’t seen it lately.

Cables ties do nothing – they still swoop, they can still scare the bee-Jesus out of you (their main aim) and they can still make you fall off your bike. All cable ties achieve is to make you look like a complete muppet.

Besides, you haven’t been swooped until you’ve stumbled upon a baby plover that’s fallen out of it’s nest… personal experience…

+10
A plover attack is best avoided. Those birds are absolute psychopaths.

Dagget66 said :

I got Dive bombed about 6 times just next to the Lake Tuggeranong Skate park as I was riding by 2 weeks ago ….
All the Skater kids thought it was really funny … 🙂

Must have been the same one that had a go at me about 2 weeks ago as well. Must be anti cyclist as he doesn’t seem to go for the skaters

niftydog said :

Mother-in-law got swooped in the first week of August. I copped a half baked attempt the week after. The infamous CSIRO maggie had a few practice runs at me a few weeks back, but haven’t seen it lately.

Cables ties do nothing – they still swoop, they can still scare the bee-Jesus out of you (their main aim) and they can still make you fall off your bike. All cable ties achieve is to make you look like a complete muppet.

Besides, you haven’t been swooped until you’ve stumbled upon a baby plover that’s fallen out of it’s nest… personal experience…

Yep and I got swept in 2009..

I’m setting up the Bofors this weekend.

I prefer the Oerlikon 40mm flugzeug abwehr kanone myself…

Pommy bastard said :

A tennis racquet makes for a better defence than cable ties.

Magpie pie, yummy…

You’re just saying that for a lark..

Mother-in-law got swooped in the first week of August. I copped a half baked attempt the week after. The infamous CSIRO maggie had a few practice runs at me a few weeks back, but haven’t seen it lately.

Cables ties do nothing – they still swoop, they can still scare the bee-Jesus out of you (their main aim) and they can still make you fall off your bike. All cable ties achieve is to make you look like a complete muppet.

Besides, you haven’t been swooped until you’ve stumbled upon a baby plover that’s fallen out of it’s nest… personal experience…

mtrax said :

So has anyone tried the no helmet approach?

What do you attach the cable ties too?

PBO said :

Was in Belconnen yesterday afternoon and I was at the lights near the Coles servo watching an Asian man have the time of his life being swooped. He actually loved it and had a smile from ear to ear, he was truly amazed at the tenacity of this little bird.

Maybe this is the true Australian experience, aside from being slammed in the bollocks by a large Wallaby wearing a Crocodile Dundee hat brandishing a spatula.

We had an American consultant at work once who went for a jog and got swooped. He came back to the office ranting “The stoopid bird ran into me! Don’t they look where they’re going?”

So has anyone tried the no helmet approach?

I still hate getting swooped. This one didn’t start last year until about the second week of October.
Maybe he’s just in pre season training which is why he wasn’t as aggressive as last year.

cable ties? bah! have a dog – or a small child as the op notes – with you and this will take any swooping away from your vulnerable (even if follicly-challenged) head and on to the smaller intruder. magpies are patently big girl’s blouses and go for the easier target.

i sometimes walk my mutt along the stormwater canal behind daramalan and in season (now) a maggie family patrols the straight just off cowper street, but goes for my entirely oblivious rotty. make it a dumb dog or child.

😉

The last week or so the local hordes have been having a free for all in my backyard, presumably jockeying for the best nesting locations.

There is always at least one swooper on owen dixon drive. downhill is ok because it’s pretty quick but coming home I feel like a duck in a shooting gallery. This bird has been at it for about 3 weeks. I’m with #8. I reckon a little brush with nature is a good thing.

I’ve been swooped since May on a semi-regular basis by a deranged little thing on Anketell St. Can’t figure out why it goes for me – I’m a bit “follically challenged” so the bird’s clearly insane.

Was in Belconnen yesterday afternoon and I was at the lights near the Coles servo watching an Asian man have the time of his life being swooped. He actually loved it and had a smile from ear to ear, he was truly amazed at the tenacity of this little bird.

Maybe this is the true Australian experience, aside from being slammed in the bollocks by a large Wallaby wearing a Crocodile Dundee hat brandishing a spatula.

A tennis racquet makes for a better defence than cable ties.

Magpie pie, yummy…

We were first swooped on our way to vote, so we were way ahead of you 🙂

I got Dive bombed about 6 times just next to the Lake Tuggeranong Skate park as I was riding by 2 weeks ago ….
All the Skater kids thought it was really funny … 🙂

I’m yet to be swooped this season but wouldn’t think it’s particularly early? There was a notorious one out near Gundaroo that would start in July! And I’ve been swooped in Fyshwick in mid-December! They clearly don’t follow the rules of a 6-week breeding season!

Magpies have a deep hatred of cyclists. I believe they are reincarnated angry motorists. Cable ties just piss them off even more. I ride in the middle of the road when magpies are around, and ignore red traffic lights, and ride across pedestrian crossings, just to piss them off. When coming to a stop I go out of my way to prop myself by resting a hand on the trunk of their tree. The magpies go absolutely nuts. I swear, if they had little explosive vests they’d use them.

Gave up on cable ties after watching http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wHreVKgOT4&feature=fvw
They only look vaguely cool if you get a mohawk happening.

I’ve been getting swooped for almost two weeks now. Two Magpies seem to be building their nest right in front of our house. Unlike most people, I don’t mind though. They’re only doing their jobs, so to speak, and they’re not out to kill us.