I was sitting in a park at McLaren Vale in our famous wine region. It is just a lovely place to visit whether you like wine or not. There was a massive whoosh and something sped within a millimeter of my ear and the noise was huge. It was the only time I have ever been swooped by a magpie. I got up and walked slowly to another part of he park and sat down and , for me, the problem was over. I must have been near a magpie nest. I don't know what they teach in primary schools these days but they used to teach children to wear and ice cream container or a bike helmet with plastic zip tags poked into it if you were walking in areas where magpies swooped. I confess I have never seen children wearing those things ever.
It happens. We tend to be able to avoid it but it is very disconcerting if you are swooped by magpies . I have not heard of aggressive attacks here , which does not mean they haven't happened. I have heard of aggressive attacks interstate. Could be that here there is more room for bird and human to get away from each other easily. The statistics bear me out. South Australia is not high on magpie attacks compared with other states.
Generally we live and let live with magpies. They can be huge birds. Some people feed them and they become firm friends. Magpies can imitate lots of sounds and are good socialisers. I have never fed the ones which have always come to my front garden. They love a freshly mown lawn. They are also birds with social responsibility firmly built in, hence the swooping. They protect their own. I watched my two magpies protect a rosella in the protea bush next door from the neighbour's cat. I was watching because I thought the rosella might need help. I need not have bothered. The two maggies herded the cat away from the rosella and would not let the cat move back to the shrub until the rosella had recovered itself from the worry of a possible feline attack and had flown happily away. When I saw maggies do that, I had nothing but respect for them. They used their size, strength and strategies to keep the rosella safe but they did not harm the cat. I love hearing them in the morning. It is one of the sounds I wake up to here.
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