Is magpie swooping season over for another year?

maxblues said :

But if it comes to maggies vs moggies, I’m on the maggies side.

I can’t blame them for protecting their little ones, I just wish they could sense that I come in peace!

fabforty said :

What about plovers ? Have they finished their reign of terror yet ?

Oh geez, I didn’t know plovers were an issue in Canberra. I got swooped by a pair of them in north Queensland last year and reacted by screaming and hitting the ground with my arms folded above my head (Cold War era duck-and-cover style). Don’t think my coworkers could take me seriously anymore if they saw me pull that one while en route to work.

Really appreciate the contributions to the map so far!

I’m with you, again Djinny. Find magpies to be intelligent, sociable birds, especially if you provide them with some shaded water to splash in during hot weather and feed some the occasional bit of mince (but not so much that they get dependent on it). I have never been swooped by magpies in Canberra, but have had a sadistic chuckle at postie on motorbike going flatout with magpie inches from helmet maintaining same speed as motorbike. I have been swooped by a persistent currawong and was once harassed so badly by a pair of plovers outside a Belco printing works, that the boys ‘rescued’ me by calling me into the printing works and letting me out the back door.
But if it comes to maggies vs moggies, I’m on the maggies side.

I love these threads. All the stories you give make me laugh, I feed all magpies and currawongs in my area (and some days I take some spinach down for the water birds). Most days my yards are full of birds who I feed by hand, sometimes they even knock on the door and windows and sing for me to come out to them. I have never been swooped, but I love watching it happen to others.

If the duck story is true – hilarious!!! I want more of it.

can we just get rid of all birds in Canberra? who keeps teaching them all combat techniques anyway? they’re all insane…

I must admit, once a group of quail (a tremble of quail?) took off near me and I produced a very girlie scream.

I quailed.

What about plovers ? Have they finished their reign of terror yet ?

Thank you for your responses! I’m glad to hear that I’m not alone in hating this time of year. I have an embarrassing fear of birds, and so even the 1km walk to work is stressful. And letting my bike gather dust breaks my heart a little!
I’ve started a google map to track the locations of aggressive birds around Canberra http://goo.gl/maps/H41l1… obviously it would have been more useful at the beginning of the season, but at least it will be set up for next year. Anyone with a google account can add a placemark where they’ve encountered an angry bird (including currawongs and ducks!). Hopefully this will go a little way to reducing the human-bird conflicts in the Canberra region!

Jethro said :

I got attacked by a duck the other day as I cycled around Lake Burley Griffin.

I fell off my bike. It was most embarrassing.

Well as they say “If it walks like one, sounds like one and looks like one then it probably is a Magpie!” lol

poetix said :

Jethro said :

I got attacked by a duck the other day as I cycled around Lake Burley Griffin.

I fell off my bike. It was most embarrassing.

Oh dear! I hope you didn’t put a dent in your Mallard Star.

One night on holidays, we were in a packed pub in the Cotswolds, England. Amongst other intriguing memorabilia was the biggest (stuffed) duck that I have ever seen. I asked a local, on my left, what type of duck it was. He wasn’t sure, so asked the drinker on his left, which continued around the pub. Eventually, the drinker on my right, told me the duck was a mallard. When I passed this onto the drinker on my left, he said “Mallard, mallard…that was a famous steam locomotive that broke a speed record…how fast did it go?” He then posed the question to the drinker on his left who then passed the question on around the pub before a drinker on my right passed on the answer. You don’t have to be a dux when people will share their knowledge of ducks.

Jethro said :

I got attacked by a duck the other day as I cycled around Lake Burley Griffin.

I fell off my bike. It was most embarrassing.

Me too! Near Kings Ave Bridge…the duck charged at me for trying to look at the ducklings and I was only going to eat 2 of them!!!

Thankfully I didn’t fall off my bike but it sure threw me off balance.

Back to the original question…I haven’t seen magpies swooping the last few weeks; a few currawongs are still at it though and the ducks have upped the ante. I live in the inner south and they have been fine lately but maybe they just know my face.

I hate magpie season 🙁