In Tasmania, no one has to wear an ice-cream container with eyes on their head when magpies are breeding.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s because the magpies there don\u2019t swoop \u2013 and no one knows why.<\/p>\n
Magpie Alert, a website that tracks and maps swoops and any resultant injuries, shows 3,271 reported swoopings and 426 injuries around Australia so far this year. None of them are in Tasmania.<\/p>\n
Eric Woehler, a Tasmanian bird ecologist, says there are regional variations in magpies. Some think a genetic difference might explain why Tasmanian magpies don\u2019t go for human eyeballs, but he doubts that theory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be self-defeating,\u201d he says, because the male swoops to protect the female as she incubates her eggs.<\/p>\n
He says it could be that Tasmania\u2019s urban density isn\u2019t as high as other places, or that it has more open, green space, so the birds are more relaxed and less aggressive with fewer intruders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt might be one factor, it might be 100 factors,\u201d he says. \u201cWe don\u2019t know. It\u2019s an unknown quantity why Tasmanian birds behave noticeably differently to mainland birds.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gisela Kaplan, a University of New England emeritus professor in animal behaviour, says Tasmanian magpies are smaller, which might make them more careful about taking someone on.<\/p>\n
She says magpies would prefer not to swoop and only do it to defend their families from invaders.<\/p>\n
Other birds, including noisy miners, butcherbirds, masked lapwings and magpie larks also swoop in breeding season. But the magpie is guilty of inflicting the most eye injuries.<\/p>\n
On Magpie Alert, there are also reports of ear injuries. \u201cSarge\u201d says he was swooped 15 or more times while riding his bike on Federation Trail in Melbourne. \u201cInjured left ear hit five times, lot of blood. Also blood drawn left elbow,\u201d he reports.<\/p>\n