If you\u2019re a cyclist, you\u2019re not imagining it \u2013 the magpies really are after you.<\/p>\n
Statistics for the Australian magpies\u2019 2025 breeding season show almost two in three swooping attacks are on cyclists. And the best thing to do?<\/p>\n
Slow down. Get off the bike and walk, even. Step away from the nest, if you can tell where it is.<\/p>\n
The magpie swooping season lasts about six weeks in the spring. Magpies are smart, social and occasionally savage. They are very protective of their nests and see passing humans as threats. Fast-moving cyclists pose a particular danger in the eyes of the magpies.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring this time, they will defend their nests and chicks, but also defend their surrounding territory,\u201d the Australian Museum\u2019s website says.<\/p>\n
\u201cMale adults are using their body language \u2013 beak clapping, whooshing above your head and screeching \u2013 to warn you to keep away from their eggs or newly hatched chicks.\u201d<\/p>\n
That \u201cbeak clapping\u201d can draw blood, especially from tender human ears.<\/p>\n
BirdLife Australia\u2019s Sean Dooley says the speed of a bike is a major factor in their swooping. His theory is that it freaks the magpie out more.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomething more dangerous is likely to be moving fast,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there\u2019s a predator coming, it\u2019s not going to saunter in. A currawong, an eagle, they\u2019re going to rush in really quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not all magpies are aggressive, but those that are can also remember and continue to target the same people. But that facial recognition ability means they can also develop lifelong friendships with humans.<\/p>\n
A swiftly approaching cyclist also means the magpie has less time to decide whether the human is friend or foe, Dooley says, so it has to react. Addionally, helmets and sunglasses can render the human indistinguishable from others.<\/p>\n
According to Magpie Alert, a community website set up by avid cyclist Jon Clarke, 63.9% of the 3,431 attacks reported so far this season have been on people riding bikes.<\/p>\n
Most of the rest were swoops on people walking or running, including with dogs and prams.<\/p>\n
The number of attacks is slightly up on the six-year average, and 11.3% or 389 resulted in injury.<\/p>\n
And this year, there have been two reports of swooping from Tasmania, where, along with the Northern Territory and Western Australia, attacks are exceedingly rare, at least compared to the other states.<\/p>\n
Dooley says that may be because there are subspecies of magpies, and that magpies are not evenly distributed across the country \u2013 there are none in Darwin, for example.<\/p>\n
In 2017, the Australian magpie beat the bin chicken and the laughing kookaburra to take out Guardian Australia\/BirdLife Australia\u2019s annual bird of the year poll.<\/p>\n
This year\u2019s poll opens on Monday.<\/p>\n
Traditional methods to deal with swooping magpies include putting cable ties or pipe cleaners on helmets, wearing ice-cream containers with fake eyes on the back of the head or holding umbrellas aloft for the bird to focus on.<\/p>\n
Dooley says none of these ruses will work every time, and the best thing to do is get away from the nest they\u2019re protecting.<\/p>\n
\u201cStop, backtrack, get out of the swooping zone,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cTake evasive action. It\u2019s counterintuitive because you feel like your life\u2019s being threatened, but they\u2019re not out to kill you; they\u2019re just out to scare you off.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t overreact because that will entrench the belief the magpie has that you\u2019re a danger.\u201d<\/p>\n