{"id":129577,"date":"2025-09-09T06:39:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T06:39:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/129577\/"},"modified":"2025-09-09T06:39:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-09T06:39:14","slug":"how-to-avoid-magpie-swooping-this-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/129577\/","title":{"rendered":"How to avoid magpie swooping this season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring has sprung across the country – and while most Aussies are celebrating the end of winter, the seasonal change brings with it a new threat.<\/p>\n

More than 800 incidents have already been reported so far this magpie swooping season, and with two months to go, experts have revealed what Australians can expect and how they can best protect themselves.<\/p>\n

The dreaded swooping season is tied to the species\u2019 fierce protectiveness during breeding and nesting, according to University of Southern Queensland wildlife science lecturer Meg Edwards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see these swooping events when magpies have either eggs or chicks in the nest, and that\u2019s usually between August and October,\u201d Dr Edwards said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they\u2019re coming out of winter, there\u2019s lots of food availability so it\u2019s when lots of animals have their mating season.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Magpie<\/p>\n

Magpies swoop any perceived threat to their nest. Picture: Supplied<\/p>\n

Magpies will aggressively defend their nest for about six weeks after their babies have hatched, but only a fraction – about 10 per cent – of magpies turn to swooping humans.<\/p>\n

Community-led website Magpie Alert has mapped 887 magpie swoops since the start of 2025, with at least 16 reported as having led to serious injuries.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People can log where they have been swooped by a magpie on MagpieAlert.com. Picture: Magpie Alert official website<\/p>\n

Swooping incidents are concentrated in cities along the southeast coast, according to the website.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe tend to see more magpies moving in areas with more people,\u201d Dr Edwards said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you\u2019re more likely to get swooped in cities because there\u2019s more birds and more people around.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re just swooping anything that seems like a threat to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re in a more covered, densely bushy area, there\u2019s a chance that you may not get swooped as often, whereas parks, footpaths and bike paths are more exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Edwards said avoiding places where magpies live and nest during breeding season was the best way to avoid a swooping attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation is key. For instance, having signs up in swooping areas is a really great move to educate people, and to let them know that they should potentially move on a little bit,\u201d Dr Edwards said.<\/p>\n

\"Councils<\/p>\n

Councils across Canberra and Brisbane erect warning signs in areas where magpies frequently swoop. Picture: Reddit<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother key thing is maintaining habitat- so the less that we can destroy their habitat and destroy trees where they might be nesting and provide them more cover, the better.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you have to move through an area with magpies, it\u2019s recommended you cover up with a hat and sunglasses and – importantly – remain calm.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe bigger and scarier we seem, the more threatening we can seem to magpies and so they may be more likely to swoop,\u201d Dr Edwards said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why cyclists are often targeted, potentially because they\u2019re moving faster and that can seem more threatening to a magpie.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo trying to walk briskly, but calmly without yelling or running – that can definitely help.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Magpie<\/p>\n

Protective items like umbrellas can also be used to ward off magpie attacks. Picture: Supplied<\/p>\n

Queensland business owner Hayden Hadfield has an unusual method of deterring magpies from his car dealership and cafe Hayden\u2019s Hut Bowen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had three magpies that would always come and visit us, and occasionally they would swoop,\u201d Mr Hayfield said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut once we started feeding them – giving them pieces of ham, cheese or crackers – they stopped swooping us.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s our magpie strategy, befriending them instead of fighting them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Magpie breeding season generally finishes towards the end of October.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spring has sprung across the country – and while most Aussies are celebrating the end of winter, the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,32930,90202,24705,90203,128,90204,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-129577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-breeding-season","11":"tag-dr-edwards","12":"tag-magpies","13":"tag-meg-edwards","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-swooping-season","16":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}