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Expert Warns Magpie Swooping Season Could Be Worse This Year

Expert Warns Magpie Swooping Season Could Be Worse This Year

The birds get agitated when people wear masks because they can't read someone's face.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

An expert has warned the magpie swooping season could be worse this year because of coronavirus restrictions.

Several jurisdictions have brought in mask mandates that require you to wear a face covering when you're out in public.

While it's fantastic for helping prevent the spread of the coronavirus, it can get magpies particularly agitated.

The territorial black and white birds swoop during spring because it's breeding season and they're worried their nest is under threat when someone walks close by.

Magpies are well known for being able to learn people's faces and masks are a big problem for them.

Griffith University magpie expert Darryl Jones told NCA Newswire: "The mask comes into this story because most of the magpies which swoop pedestrians, do so to only one or two individuals who for some reason have become regarded as a threat.

"Almost every magpie lives in a small territory with about 20 to 30 people living there with them. The birds never leave this patch and get to know all these people very well.

PA

"We know that they recognise people by their facial features so when these are covered by a mask, they can't distinguish between everyone.

"So, just to be safe (in their minds), they seem to be saying 'I can't tell who is that nasty one so I had better belt everyone'."

Great, just great.

Just when you thought coming into spring would be fun because it's warmer and sunnier, you get news like this.

Magpies traditionally lay their eggs in mid-August and there have already been hundreds of attacks for the 2021 swooping season.

Magpie Alert says there have been 877 reports of swooping attacks across Australia so far and 86 injuries.

TheManWithNoName88/Reddit

Tragically, a baby in Queensland died earlier this month when her mum tripped and fell while trying to run away from a dive bombing magpie.

Researchers reckon only around nine per cent of magpies swoop during the peak season and they're almost always males.

According to the Royal Zoological Society of NSW, 'smaller - especially younger - people, lone people, and people travelling quickly (i.e. runners and cyclists) appear to be targeted most often by swooping magpies.'

Some people claim you're supposed to wear an ice-cream bucket with sticks or googley eyes on the back to ward off the swoopers but that only works in some cases.

People who are in the firing line so to speak are told to either avoid the area, be aware of where the bird is because it'll usually swoop from behind, walk don't run because they'll perceive that as a threat, dismount from your bike or horse because apparently they're threatening, and never harass them.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Australia