It’s magpie season in Australia. Every year, these normally friendly and intelligent birds become aggressive towards people who enter their territory. It is mainly the males who do this and it seems that they are protecting their newly hatched babies from invaders.

I usually count magpie season as going from August 1st to the end of September.

This year my first swoop happened on the 4th on the edge of town at the Civeo miners village. This is later than the previous few years where swooping started round about July 25th. That was probably due to warmer conditions in the drought.

Most magpies swoop and make a clacking noise with their beaks as they approach. It can be disconcerting but if you stay calm it is only a short while before they leave you alone.

There was a magpie we christened “Nut Job”. He lived at the other end of our bridge. He would swoop without warning and hit the helmet with some force on a bad day. He would also jump at the faces of little children. As this is across the highway from a school it was not very safe. He seems to have disappeared, whether due to natural causes or lead poisoning it is hard to say.

People try all kinds of things to ward them off. Holding a stick about your head works when walking. Cable ties on the helmet can work for cyclists. At the moment I keep the podcast turned up and look at the road ahead, pedalling as fast as I can.

So we have a couple of months of excitement ahead of us. At least you can see a magpie, not like a virus!