Newcastle residents are urged to keep an eye on the sky as the magpie swooping season is in full swing.
There has already been a handful of attacks in the area in the first few weeks of spring.
During the Australian magpie breeding season, some birds will swoop as a defence strategy to deter potential predators.
Unfortunately, the unsuspecting pedestrian fits into this potential predatory group.
Over 35 magpie attacks in the Newcastle area have been reported since the beginning of August on magpiealert.com. Some are just reports of swooping, while others have reported some significant injuries.
One person cycling along Jenner Parade in Hamilton South was swooped twice and received a “superficial” scratch to their ear.
Another cyclist on Corlette Street in Cooks Hill was attacked from behind and was on the receiving end of several swoops and aggressive striking at their eyes.
“I was running with earphones in along a path,” one runner from Fletcher wrote.
“All of a sudden, I felt this huge bang on the side of my head. It felt like someone had slapped me with their nails digging into me.
“I then looked up and saw the magpie so close to me, and then it flew up into the tree. I felt the side of my head, and blood was dripping everywhere.”
Local areas where attacks have been recorded include: Lake Road, Elermore Vale; Tulkaba Street, Fletcher; Denison Street, Carrington; Davies Parade, Mount Hutton; Dudley Road, Charlestown; Corlette Street, Cooks Hill; Kemp Street, Hamilton South; Corlette Street, The Junction; Panorama Close, Fletcher; Threlkeld Crescent, Fletcher; Turnbull Street, Merewether; Caldwell Street, Merewether; Gregson Avenue, Mayfield West; Moira Street, Adamstown; Kilgour Avenue, Merewether; Glebe Road, The Junction; Samdon Street, Hamilton; Timmins Street, Birmingham Gardens; Sixth Street, Adamstown; Bulbul Crescent, Fletcher; Awabakal Drive, Fletcher; Bahloo Reserve, Windale; Lindsay Street, Hamilton; Jenner Parade, Hamilton South; Owen Lane, New Lambton.
Elsewhere, a five-month-old girl was tragically killed in a Brisbane Park last month after her mother fell trying to avoid a swooping magpie. In 2019, a Sydney cyclist died in a bicycle crash while also trying to escape from a swooping magpie.
“The consequences (of being swooped by a magpie), especially when people are caught unaware, can be truly terrifying and devastating,” National Public Affairs Manager at BirdLife Australia Sean Dooley said.
BirdLife Australia’s Urban Birds Program Manager Holly Parsons said most magpies didn’t swoop, but when they did, only a minority of the magpies actually made contact.
“A few individual birds have given the entire species a bad name. It is only a small proportion of magpies that swoop,” Parsons said.
“Estimates put it at something like 10 per cent of the population, and they are invariably males who love their offspring just a little too much, and in their protective zeal will attack anyone or anything they feel is a threat.
“A magpie tends to attack from behind by swooping over your head, clacking its beak. Usually, this is just a warning, so don’t panic. Occasionally though, they can do serious damage, so swooping birds need to be treated with caution.”
BirdLife Australia’s tips on how to avoid magpie swooping:
- Avoid locations that are known for magpie swooping.
- If you do get swooped, don’t panic and run away screaming. Instead, walk away quickly and calmly and maintain eye contact with them.
- Protect your eyes. Have a pair of sunglasses on hand any time you are going for a walk, especially in a park.
- Pop an umbrella up and hold it above your head if a magpie is swooping.
- Sometimes a bike helmet with cable ties work, but sometimes it doesn’t.
- If there is a particularly aggressive magpie and you are concerned about it, report it to your local council so they can investigate and assess the threat that it may pose.
Rob Palazzi from the Hunter Bird Observers Club shared some insights on magpie behaviour that he had noted in his own backyard.
“For nearly nine years we shared our backyard with a family of magpies. Each season (they) would go through their usual routines of initially defending the territory and chasing off any other magpie individuals,” Palazzi said.
“They would also dive-bomb and harass any humans who might come walking/riding on the street out front, but not the immediate neighbours nor ourselves.
“We could wander anywhere and they would ignore us, but strangers were discouraged vigorously.”
Palazzi said since then they had moved but adopted another pair of magpies at their new home who were doing much of the same chasing and swooping behaviour.
“The swooping appears to be restricted to that period when the nest is being built/refurbished, and as the territory settles, there is less stress and more focus on providing for the offspring,” he said.
“These birds are quite smart and are able to learn who is who in their space, but like most animals they have many built-in or innate behaviours that show up when needed, including the protective swooping we are all familiar with.”
Hayley McMahon