Every spring, swooping magpies make the news, and it’s easy to come away thinking every magpie is out to get you. The truth is far less dramatic.
Most magpies never swoop at people
According to wildlife scientist Meg Edwards from the University of Southern Queensland, only around 10% of nesting magpies actually swoop people. The Australian Museum agrees that only a small number of magpies behave this way.
The birds that do swoop are usually males, defending the nest during the breeding season.
It only lasts a few weeks
Magpies breed mainly between August and November, but swooping is usually intense for only a few weeks, while there are chicks in the nest. Once the young have left the nest, the swooping stops.
Most swoops are warnings
A swoop is a fast warning flight. Before swooping, a male will often try to warn people away with loud calls and bill-clacking.
Magpies only occasionally make contact, and most swooping incidents cause fear rather than injury. When people do get hurt, it’s often because they panicked, ran and fell over, not because of the bird itself.
It’s all about family
A swooping magpie isn’t being aggressive for the sake of it. It sees you as a possible threat to its chicks, and it’s defending its nest and territory. Once the chicks have grown, the swooping ends for another year.
How to share the footpath
- Take another route for a couple of weeks if you know where a swooping magpie is nesting.
- Wear a hat and sunglasses while you’re in the area.
- Stay calm. Running, screaming or waving your arms can make you look like a bigger threat.
- Move away calmly and leave the bird’s territory as soon as you can.
- If you cycle, get to know where the nesting sites are along your route.
- Check or report swooping birds on the Magpie Alert website, magpiealert.com.
The bottom line
Most magpies never swoop at all. The few that do are protecting their chicks for a few weeks, and mostly they just want you to move along. A hat, a bit of patience and a different route for a while are all it takes.