Magpies - black & white terrors from the sky

The Australian Magpie is one of the most loved animals in Australia and one of the most hated by people that ride bikes. While the Magpie does have a beautiful song it does have the nasty habit of being overprotective of it's young and it's attacks are viscous.

I have to admit when I was a kid I liked Magpies. They were just a bird that I saw out in the country side and it is not hard to see why I liked them. They are intelligent carnivorous birds that hang around picnic grounds where the hope to be and are feed by us humans. This connection of us feeding them makes us think they are our friends and we like that. They are also a very attractive medium sized bird with glossy black and white plumage. All this endears them to most people, but then again most people do not walk or ride a bike. The fact is while the magpie can feel like a friend, to many people that walk or ride a bike they are the black and white terrors from the sky.

According to the Queensland Department of Environment only a small amount of magpies swoop. I have to say this does not make the threat any less terrifying. You may think the word terrifying is an exaggeration but when you are riding along at 25kmph plus and you have a bird trying to take out your eye it is exactly that "TERRIFYING". Why does this happen well during the latter part of the year magpies begin to breed and like any animal there hormones start to race. This means in most cases the male will become aggressive however sometimes the female will also join in (myself "Enjoying" one of these male female tag team attacks and figuratively sh**ting myself in the process). Some people say there not that bad but I would love to question those said individuals "do you drive most of the time?" The fact is Magpies can be extremely dangerous with cases where people have lost there eye sight.

While I am a great lover of nature, when Human Safety is put at risk I will go straight to human safety. This is generally the same stance that Governments will take, which made it astonding when I went to the Department of Environment to report a dangerous Magpie that targetted my otherhalf's eyes and drew blood, the form was gone. I know there was form to fill out but it seams that the government has pulled it from the website which is highly disappointing. It seams that the government may be trying to aviod litigation under the "if we don't know we can't be held responsible"!

What can be done is the main point here. Well personally if this behaviour is hormonal and only a small amount of bird swoop maybe the removal of these birds is required. Artifical selection has worked on other spieces why not on the magpie. It is just a shame that the govenrment would rather let us get swooped and have blood drawn. Then there is the fact that the Magpie is a open woodland bird. The planting of more trees would reduce the occurance of swooping. I am yet to be swooped in an area with heavey tree cover and reasonably low foliage. It is just not a place where a magpie can get a run up which is part of there attack.

As far as I am concerned problem birds need to be removed and paths need to be protected from attacks. Magpie attack scare thousands of people each year and must surely contribute to people not riding.

Oh and here is you tube clip showing all the ways people try to get around these horrible black & white terriors.