Just in time for swooping season.
With swooping season now among us, a glorious map has popped up online alerting peeps on the most tenacious swoopy boys in your neighbourhood.
The key takeaways
- A website has been created, devoted to tracking magpies around town.
- The website is citizen-run, meaning anyone who has their own personal swooping experience can plug their own swoopy boy on the map
- You can input your location, the date/time, what activity was taking place and whether an injury resulted
Keep up with the latest in local good news via our website.
Dubbed Australia’s social website to ‘track aggressive swooping magpies in your area’, Magpie Alert‘s map extends across the country and is citizen-run, meaning anyone who has their own personal swooping experience can plug their own swoopy boy on the map to alert others of the potential hazards in a particular area.
You can input your location, the date/time, what activity was taking place and whether an injury resulted, with notes ranging from serious to light-hearted.
“Half hearted double swoop at junction of bikeway and pierce road.”
“Aggressive magpie hit my right ear and made me lose control of my bicycle, luckily didn’t crash and no injuries. Would avoid and use another route if possible.”
“Quick bomb outside the public school. Pretty tame, not much to it. Guess we weren’t tasty enough.”
While there is some humour to be pulled from such misfortunes, it’s also a very real issue as swooping birds can cause serious harm. It is illegal to harass or harm native birds without authorisation so if you get pecked on the head, we’d advise against channeling your outrage on the feathered friend.
The best way to avoid a swooping situation is to remove yourself from any potentially hazardous scenarios entirely. Be aware of the swooping-prone spots in your neighbourhood and tailor your daily walk, run or ride as a result.
Yet don’t be completely alarmed – not all magpies or other common swooping birds will swoop even if they are protecting their eggs or young. So don’t freak out if you see a magpie bouncing along peacefully next to the sidewalk on your next outing. For the most part, they are courteous animals that don’t mean to cause any harm.
Check out the map here.
If you’re feeling extra cautious, the Victorian Government also have their own map doing the same job which you can check out here.
The CSIRO has also created a survival guide to help you prepare for any future scares.
