How I handle Magpie season in Australia as a cyclist | Do Magpies target cyclists?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ส.ค. 2024
- Magpie season is upon us. For 8-12 weeks of spring, while Magpies are nesting, they become silent aerial assassins, swooping silently from trees to terrorise people cycling and walking. They’re not doing it because they hate you, but it’s an instinct to protect their young from potential threats.
Research suggests that only 10% of all male magpies swoop, and they don’t swoop everybody all the time. They are selective. So you might be lucky and almost never get swooped, or you might be a favourite target.
While one option is to just not ride your bike in spring, that’s not something I’m willing to do. So here’s my how to guide for surviving magpie season and keep riding your bicycle.
USEFUL LINKS
Magpie Alert:
magpiealert.com
Da Brim:
dabrim.com/products/sporty-cy...
39mm wide Bird Scarer Tape:
birdcontrolaustralia.com.au/s...
Paul Heymans’ Magpie Guide:
/ 9588030141267006
Paul Heymans’ Dancing with Magpies Video:
vimeo.com/604572254
0:00 Introduction
3:12 Step 1: Avoid
4:24 Step 2: Be Prepared
7:29 Step 3: Be Calm
9:15 Summing up
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I fed them once on my route, and they ALL stopped swooping me. I have not been swooped in years on my commute, and it used to happen regularly.
In the lead up to nesting season, I pay my "magpie tax" by carrying a bag of food on my rides and feeding any maggies I encounter. has worked well for me so far
That's a great idea! What food do you carry? I've read mince is bad for them.
Small amounts of nuts and oats is a good balance between healthy and practical. Ideally you'd only be feeding them insects but this isn't hugely practical. Mince is definitely a no-no as it can cause them health problems. Bread isn't great since carbs aren't a part of their natural diet.
@@callummackie7452dried meal worms are good and easy to carry.
Maybe the long term approach is to plant more trees and encourage other birds other than maggies to move in. They are one of the winners of our urban environment.
8-9 weeks is optimistic. We have a lil' kamikaze pilot down here in Burleigh who kicks off in September and doesn't give up until *January*.
Wowsers!
I think a lot of the magpie scarering devices work for some magpies but not all of them.
The most intresting swoop for me was when the magpie left a magpie swooping sign to swoop.
At least he advertised his intent 😉
I've been using bird scare tape successfully for the past 2 magpie seasons. I stream it from a bamboo stick attached to the rack. Next season I am seeing if the tape glued to my helmet works also. Give it a try, it really works!
I had a pretty nasty attack last year, with several big cuts on my left cheek, fortunately I could detour around that area for a couple of months.
The CSIRO actually did some research into magpie attacks a few years ago: The only reliable method to prevent swooping was to not wear a helmet (nor a hat, and wear your hair loose for those of us with longer hair), taking it off after they start swooping you didn't help. So if you have to go through a swooping area, you can always stop in advance, take off your helmet, walk past, put your helmet back on, then ride off.
Feeding the magpies in advance often works as well, as others have mentioned.
Speaking of birds, a duck had a go at my foot the other day: I rode a bit too close to their babies apparently.
Thanks for the brim link, I've been looking for something like that.
I've been swooped by noisy miners lately too... birds are just rude.
So the choice is risk a fine or get swooped? Damn!
Got attacked 3 times in one day so finally opted for the zip ties. Bought long black ones and maggies have only given me an escort ever since, no more swooping or coming anywhere near me. yes always wear sunnies
The secret is to ride a recumbent, either bike or trike. I've spent so long now without a swoop I'd quite forgotten the swooping season. A local maggie reminded me the other day though as I was toddling along on my (upright) cargo bike...
I hadn't thought of that. Very interesting!
I put a bit of fabric over the triangle where my ears are to protect against swooping and for sun protection. Then pull your glasses down to the tip of your nose. Works a treat!
Nice! That's a practical solution
I use either a hand towel, napkin or arab dejula placed over my head and under the helmuet. The material covers your ears and flaps in the breeze. Good if have a sweating head on a hot day and seems to deter magpies in my area, Rockhampton. I protect my eyes with safety sunglasses during the day or clear safety glasses in the evening. So far so good.
I have wrap around prescription sunglasses. They block a peck at the eyes from the side.
Not that I like swooping magpies but I will take them over plovers any day of the week. Had a very protective family in Mission Beach.
Taking note from your video of where not to ride
4:52 Figured it was only a matter of time until I ended up in one of your videos 😂. In my experience the spikes increase the height of the attacks so they aren't a worry, but dont prevent them.
Side note: I wait at the front of that island on Sylvan road rather than in the painted bike area since I've had a few dangerous experinces with impatient motorists there. Hopefully this wont be an issue if the separated cycleway is ever put in.
Haha sorry. Yeah, if it works for you go for it I say!
I've found raising one arm (or both arms if you are confident enough) straight up in the air and repeatedly making an action with your fingers like you will grab any swooping birdies feet has been very effective in quickly shutting down a swooping attack. After the magpie gets in his first surprise swoop they figure the risk to being grabbed by a human too great and just call it off.
Been thinking about buying one of those BMX full face helmets just for this season. Great informative Video Chris.
Very sensible advice. My wife swears by her wide brim hat, and I agree that glasses or sunnies are a must. I'm going to reluctantly get one of those attachable hats, I do also want to have a little more shade. And better than having blood running down from my ear! I agree with making some allowances for the wildlife, especially magpies and their song.
Exactly. Sun protection is worth it too.
i made a mistake the other day. i regularly got swoop at one street so i planned a little detour but only met with an even more aggressive one.......
regarding that website. is there any reason the map on the front page is as small as we are using a 640 x 480 screen? 4K monitors are fairly common nowadays.....
Yeah it's a bit annoying. It would be good if the map could be maximised.
What advice would you give for getting swooped with kids on the back? I was warning swooped recently with my 18month old on the back. Hubby was in front with the 4 year old and they were ignored... I got off and walked, which seemed to work, but we've been riding the same route for years now, so I'm not sure what's changed.
That's a tough one. Bub probably too small for a helmet and brim. I know it's not strictly to standards, but if a hat with neck flap fits under the helmet it might protect their neck and ears a little.
Full face helmet and sunnies. Easy. 😇
I've never been swooped by a magpie but I HAVE been rammed off my bike by a wombat. Any advice?
Um... cross over it? Or is it not that kind of wombat? 😉
1:43 is either going to age very well or very poorly.
I have a helmet that covers my ears, thus they might swoop once, but twice is rare. They do seem to be put off, if you laugh at them, interestingly, mate.
Good tip! I'll get laughing. It puts off big little men in wankpanzers too 😄
@@ChrisCoxCycling Yes, mate, my Wehrmacht-style helmet has interesting effects on motorists...
🚴🦅😂😂😂
"It's just a parent protecting their child. Who can really be upset about that?" I can. It's absolute bs that people try and use that as an actual excuse. They're *not* protecting anything. If they were swooping a person (and we're told they can recognise people!) that had actually harassed them in the past, that would be one thing. But they aggressively assault completely innocent people who have done absolutely nothing wrong. It's pure offensive arseholery.
We're told it's only a tiny percentage of magpies that swoop, and I've also been told that relocating them causes no long-term distress to either the father or the mother. The mother will apparently find another mate who will raise the babies as his own just fine (is what I've heard, anyway). With these facts in mind, I find it absolutely inexcusable that swooping magpies in areas that people are going about their regular life (like the Sandford St one you showed here-but _not_ like the BVRT one which is in a more purely recreational location for humans) do not get relocated as a matter of course. I had some hope that Council was going to start doing something pragmatic like that after the tragic death caused by a magpie a couple of years ago, but no. Just some new useless signs. Signs that provide no value whatsoever because they don't tell you if it's swooping _this_ year or if it's a sign that's been up for years. Or even if it is this year, if that magpie stopped swooping weeks ago because it was an early baby. They're a menace that are _assaulting_ people and making it unsafe to do something as simple as head in to work or make a trip to the shops. I find attempts to downplay this rather disgusting. If they weren't a cute native animal with a lovely song, there's no way this attitude would hold up. We don't say the same thing about snakes. Or humans who habitually assault people for just going about their business.
Christ mate. Chill...
And I absolutely think the same about snakes. Other than relocating them if they're on your own property, they're awesome and should be left alone.
@@ChrisCoxCycling no I'm not going to chill. I think it's ridiculous that people can just be okay with it being so dangerous going about your daily business. We've literally had people die in _very_ recent memory because of this attitude, and I am _not_ okay with that any more than I'm okay with the way our Council treats cyclist safety when it comes to cars.
@@ChrisCoxCycling I think about it very similarly to how I think about cars parked in the bike lane. It's compounded with how poor our active transport network is, where if one route is blocked by a magpie, you can end up with no safe way to get where you're going. I live in the St Lucia peninsula. To get to the city _requires_ I travel on Sandford St, or else brave Sir Fred Schonell Drive and part of Brisbane St. For 9 months a year that's an easy choice. Then magpies come along and you either risk getting assaulted for certain but probably not _too_ severely (unless you do...) or taking the route that's more likely to result in serious harm, but also much less likely to have _any_ harm come.
If alternative routes were viable, the occasional magpie wouldn't be a problem. But that's not the world we live in, and Council doesn't give two effs about cyclist and pedestrian safety in _either_ regard. (And my local Councillor, who I am very happy to have seen has decided not to contest the upcoming election, is one of the worst of all in how disrespectfully he acts towards active transport.)
@@ChrisCoxCycling I think I may have pushed the "cyclist safety" angle a bit too hard in that last comment actually, and I apologise for that. Fundamentally, I just think people should be able to be safe going about their daily business. I don't care if the danger is caused by cars, by people, or by birds. We have a right to feel safe. Swooping magpies are a violation of that safety, and it grosses me out to hear people say "just deal with it".