Principal Ecologist at the Department for Environment and Water, Karl Hillyard is warning the State’s residents that the magpie swooping season begins this month.
“Magpies usually breed between August and October with females typically laying between three and five eggs in August to September and sitting on them for around three weeks until they hatch,” Dr Hillyard said.
“Some male magpies defend their nests from the time the eggs are laid until the young birds are ready to fly,” he said.
“This is normally around four-to-five weeks after hatching, and they will attack anything they consider to be a threat, from another bird to a dog or a human.”
He said magpies were very intelligent birds and had an excellent recall of faces and very long memories.
“So if you’ve been swooped before, or even if you just look like someone they swooped last year, you’re likely to get the same treatment again,” Dr Hillyard said.
“They typically only defend their nests within about a 100-metre radius, so the best way to avoid getting swooped is to take a detour around known nest sites if you can.”
He stressed that the birds were not malicious — “it’s just the natural instinct of some magpies to defend their young. It can be hard to remember this when you’re being swooped though”.
Dr Hillyard said magpies weren’t the only birds that swooped during spring, but they did have the worst reputation.
