A West Australian mum and dad are warning others about the dangers of swooping magpies after their young son was left blind in one eye.
The incident happened at Clarko Reserve, in the Perth suburb of Trigg last year, but Stacey and Sean have come forward now that magpie season is well now underway.
They explained that their six-year-old son, Finn, was walking through the reserve when a magpie swooped him and clocked him straight in the right eye.
"There was blood coming out both corners of his eye and his eye was just full of blood," Stacey told Channel 7's Today Tonight.
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He was taken to hospital, where doctors confirmed Finn had lost his sight in the affected eye.
Stacey recalled there being only limited information about the dangers of walking through that particular park.
"As we walked into the park, I remember seeing a sign, a small sign, that said swooping magpies, and I was like, 'Okay, hey kids remember - keep your hats on'," Stacey said.
"I didn't think any more of it.
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Finn's dad Sean added: "There are five or six children every year who have operations because of magpie attacks.
"If we can reduce that by two or three or four - or all of them - that's what we really want."
They've been working with the local council over the last few months to help educate people about magpies and how territorial they can be.
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A Sydney council recently decided to shoot and kill a 'monster' sized magpie because it was aggressive' and had 'uncharacteristically territorial' behaviour.
Over the past three years, the Hills Shire Council has received more than 40 complaints about the single bird and it has even been accused of causing a heart attack in one bloke.
Greystanes resident Peter Danieluk told the ABC: "I had my first heart attack in 2014 which reduced my heart function...so while trying to defend myself as it would strike, the adrenaline rush caused my heart and lungs to fill with blood and cause another heart attack.
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"It just did not stop, even as I was losing consciousness on the ground."
It's nearly always male magpies that swoop and it's usually to protect the nest during mating season, which is during, or roughly around the same time as Spring.
People sometimes use ice-cream buckets with googley eyes to deter the birds but shooting one dead is certainly a step up.
Topics: Interesting, Community, Animals, Australia