First Blood of the Magpie Season

Sammy said :

cowardly attack

On the contrary, I think the magpie showed great courage in attacking something about a hundred times its size.

The magpie is a sucker-punching little b!tch. Rego for magpies and speed camera’s could have prevented this.

This outranks any pussycat mask!

http://burningcity.com/blog/blog_graphics/cthulhu_mask.jpg

johnboy said :

Surely this would fix it?

http://historyinculture.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/cleo_the_cat-tailwags.jpg

love it

johnboy said :

Surely this would fix it?

http://historyinculture.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/cleo_the_cat-tailwags.jpg

Dare you!

I spotted an echidna head cyclist the other day. It does show that there are things that make even a bike helmet look worse.

unless you want to look like a total goob, please don’t bother with the cable ties on your lids.

Just use that area as an opportunity to hone your sprint…. 🙂

Just talking about the advent of swooping season this morning. I love watching the magpies gear up for this time of year – the beautiful warbling sounds that coincides with the slight upswing in daytime termps, and the building of relationships and nests. We have some that always nest in our tree at the front of our house and I make a point (probably stupidly), of ‘chatting’ with them when I am outside. They look like they are interested anyway!!

I must admit, I don’t like the swooping, but find that eye contact is a good strategy, unless of course you are attached from behind as I was – a warning swoop. The problem really comes for us if you take the dog out as they love to swwop him and he loves to chase them. Can get a bit hairy sometimes!!

I do think that some magpies should be made to rein in the amount of area they cover though – they can get a bit greedy! A few years ago there was one near us whose area spanned a busy road and more and he’d see you off up the hill for a few hundred metres! Anyway, it’s a short lived season and we should try to recognise it for what it is – the continuance of life.

fernandof said :

Do they actually aim to harm or just fly stupidly close to scare?
I’m asking because I’m a cyclist an need to think what kind of protection to start using. For example, would glasses be sufficient or should I think of a more tough eye protection?

Most of the time they just fly stupidly close to scare… But every so often one will inflict some damage such as cuts and bruises. There are cases where a magpie has caused serious damage to someone (eg caused serious eye damage where the person has lost vision in that eye) but it’s pretty rare.

A set of sunglasses is probably not a bad idea, but ultimately the best solution is to simply find a way to go which doesn’t take you through their territory. Avoid open fields or grassed area’s, also keep an eye out for them sitting on high places such as lamp posts, that’s usually a good sign that one is about to have a go at you.

My local magpies were attacking anything that even looked like it was on two wheels. (Mr Gillespie probably trained them for the task). So, after the last swooping season when they quietened down a bit but would still screech and fly down as though to swoop, I started feeding them. Not much, just the leftover fat from bacon etc cut into insect sized slivers. No more swooping. And because I only feed them occasionally they don’t automatically hassle me, they just come over when I arrive home or depart, look at me quizzically and if I don’t produce the magic placcy bag they go back to hunting morsels in the grass.

coffeeman said :

Time for a cull methinks ……..

😉

I’m surprised no-one’s suggested compulsory registration so that miscreants can be hunted down and brought before the beak.

Time for a cull methinks ……..

😉

Stevian said :

Fantastic.

I love the cheeky little buggers.

Will you still love them when they take your eye out?

Do they actually aim to harm or just fly stupidly close to scare?
I’m asking because I’m a cyclist an need to think what kind of protection to start using. For example, would glasses be sufficient or should I think of a more tough eye protection?

Stevian said :

Fantastic.

I love the cheeky little buggers.

Will you still love them when they take your eye out?

Im assuming the magpie would grab onto his face with both feet, then gauge it out?

Magpies rarely attack when you are looking directly at them, so iim not sure how it would achieve this.

Ban magpies!

I hate Collingwood

Fantastic.

I love the cheeky little buggers.

Will you still love them when they take your eye out?

I thought I was going to get some attention from a magpie this morning, however I am pretty sure it saw the Collingwood scarf and knew I was on it’s side 🙂

Sammy said :

cowardly attack

On the contrary, I think the magpie showed great courage in attacking something about a hundred times its size.

I dunno, the advantages of its small size, ability to fly, sneak up on you and possibly to take an eye out is pretty compelling in its favour I’d say. Next, Hulk vs Spiderman.

cowardly attack

On the contrary, I think the magpie showed great courage in attacking something about a hundred times its size.