magpies

Magpies And Demons

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

As I write this, we have just entered magpie season, the two month part of the year when some male magpies get very protective of their newly hatched offspring and attack anything that they deem a threat.

The Australian magpie is a very intelligent, and usually friendly bird. In exchange for food, they will usually come quite close to people. They have a melodious warbling sound that seems to a sophisticated form of communication amongst the local birds.

In late winter and spring, however, about 10% of males become very aggressive. They swoop from behind, often coming very close indeed to the victim’s head. Usually they make a warning warble and clack their beak. Sometimes they dispense with the warning and attack silently from the rear. They rarely make actual contact. With small children they sometimes stand in front of the child and then leap from the ground at the child’s face.

For some reason, cyclists can be at particular risk of attack. At the back of my home there are some football fields. The magpie that patrolled that particular area, whom we nicknamed “Nut job” because he was particularly nasty, was fine with hundreds of people on the oval, but if anyone dared to ride a bike through the crowd they were targeted. On the other hand, when you are wearing a helmet, they can’t cause too much of an injury.

In our area, the season usually starts around August 1st. Some years it can be as early as July 25th, but this year we had a late start, with the first swoop that I experienced happening on August 9th. While the so-called experts claim that magpies only swoop for 6 weeks,the real period is more like 10 weeks. If you have different birds starting and finishing the season later then it is really the end of October before we start to feel safe again.

Magpies are a little disconcerting, but mostly harmless. You get ready for the attacks and stoically endure them.

On the other hand, there is another swooping creature that we often don’t even see, even though they surround us all the time. Demons are the literal army of the devil. They inflict people with temptation, sickness, mental illness, curses and much more. They are generally considered to be so-called “fallen angels”, that is angels who chose to join in Lucifer’s rebellion against the Lord.

They have afflicted humanity since the beginning of time, and will until the end of this age.

There are hierarchies of demons, in the same way that any army has its different ranks and officers. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:11-12

Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

Christians need to be aware that we are fighting in this spiritual battle. The atmosphere is full of creatures who have assignments to torment individuals and those which are assigned to geographical, political and cultural regions.

God has given us the appropriate PPE, Personal Protective Equipment, to keep us safe from all demonic attacks. Again Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:13-17

Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,

The key to standing firm is to recognise the battle that we are waging and to resist satan’s carmies with these weapons.

In the end, we are assured of total victory. Satan, for all his bluster is not equal to God. He is a created being just as you and I are, and in Christ we already have the victory. Hallelujah!

When you are tempted to feel overwhelmed by the battle remember this:

Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 1 John 4:4

The Holy Spirit is in you and is greater than the spirit in the world which is satan. Take courage, and stand firm. Demons are like magpies, a little scary until you realise that the power of God in you is far greater than theirs.

Magpie Season

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

The Australian magpie is a very intelligent and usually friendly bird. That all changes in late winter and spring when some of them become very protective of their babies during breeding season.

Normally their form of attack is to swoop on people entering their territory, often with their angry noise, but sometimes with no sound at all. They always attack from behind, but rarely make contact, and once you leave their territory they leave you alone.

Sadly, this year, a baby died after her mother dropped her during a particularly nasty attack in Brisbane.

Cyclists are very vulnerable. I think the helmets make the birds think that riders are a greater threat than normal people, and possibly the much higher speed than pedestrians might add to the threat factor.

In Narrabri, magpie season usually starts in the first week of August. The drought the last few years made the winters a little warmer so the attacks started late July. I think also that the lack of food caused by the drought, and perhaps lower survival of the chicks made them more aggressive.

This year the season started about the second week, and have been less numerous and less intense than previous years. In my normal daily ride there are probably only about 2 swooping magpies spread over a distance of 11 km. I am especially glad that the bird we called the “nut job” has disappeared. He lived at the far end of the bridge near our house, and would attack without warning, often making contact with the helmet.

The magpies that live in the trees near our house are usually friendly enough. They had a go at me this morning in my own driveway. I walked out into the middle of the road and took my helmet off and put it back on again a couple of times while maintaining eye contact. The first time I did this, it was in attack mode but veered away when I removed the helmet. I hope they have it worked out now! Tim later went out on his bike and they attacked him, so he might have to teach them who he is with and without the helmet.

Can’t wait for October when the birds should resume normal behaviour. Although peewees, which have similar colouration to the magpies, can be aggressive even through summer.

Australia, the land where everything wants to kill you. 🙂

Magpie Season

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

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!

The Ultimate Weapon Revealed

/ newlifenarrabri / Leave a comment

It’s magpie season in Australia, when highly intelligent and normally friendly birds suddenly turn feral and swoop on unsuspecting humans, sometimes quite viciously.

It seems that people wearing helmets are at a higher risk of attack than pedestrians. We have a friendly maggie that hangs around our house, but the other day he repeatedly made a lot of noise and did some fly-bys when I was standing on the driveway preparing to go riding. At the other end of the bridge we have what Tim calls the psychopath magpie which swoops like a stealth bomber, silently approaching and then hitting the side or back of the helmet.

Since both of these birds are quite tolerant of pedestrians, it made me wonder if the helmet is the problem. It might be that the shape and shininess of a helmet  makes a cyclist appear bigger and more threatening than a pedestrian.

We tested the hypothesis by strapping a clown wig to my helmet. If you are going to do science you might as well look amusing.

With great trepidation, and feeling somewhat silly, I mounted the pushie and headed out. The first magpie did not make its presence felt at all which was good. Then I headed over the bridge into the territory of psycho. I saw it sitting on a low fence at the end of the bridge. It took off and flew some distance behind me and then attempted the swoop. As far as I can tell, it did not approach very closely and there was certainly no impact. Winner!

On the return trip I experienced a similar result.

There are a couple of other magpies on the Old Gunnedah Road, but neither  came close enough to cause me any distress.

So artificial hair on the helmet does seem to make a positive difference. Whether the magpies will resume their previous aggression remains to be seen.

The one downside is that the wig stops the ventilation in the helmet so you wouldn’t want to do this on a hot day. Hopefully they will stop swooping before the weather gets too hot.

UPDATE:

My optimism about the hairy helmet was short lived. The second day I tried it, the magpies had worked out there was a helmet under the wig. However on the way home, I started to pray as I approached each magpie territory and it seemed quite effective.