sharing the results with her 10,000-plus Instagram followers<\/a>. The verdict? There is an effective way to stop swoops \u2013 if you\u2019re willing to wear it.<\/p>\nOutside her day job as a public servant, Skinner\u2019s passion is \u201cgravel riding\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s become really popular in the last few years, and Canberra\u2019s such a good place for it because there are so many nature reserves to ride through,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
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Steph Skinner is an avid \u2018gravel rider\u2019. Photo: Instagram.<\/p>\n
She only picked up cycling in 2019, while living in a share house in O\u2019Connor and wanting to avoid parking fees in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom there it just spiralled into a huge love for riding. This year, I actually flew over to America for a big bike race all the way from Canada to Mexico. I think I\u2019m due to clock up 10,000 km this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
But spring brings one major hazard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually think magpies are lovely birds \u2014 don\u2019t get me wrong \u2014 but during spring it\u2019s pretty much impossible to avoid getting swooped if you\u2019re a cyclist,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cLeading up to these experiments, I was probably getting swooped at least 10 times a week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Armed with a science degree and curiosity, she began testing deterrents this season \u2013 starting with the classics.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tried the two most common strategies people recommend, which are the big eyes on the back of the helmet and the zip ties,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the eyes were completely ineffective on the first magpie I tested. What I\u2019ve seen in being swooped as much as I do is that every bird is different. What works on one may not work on another.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mounting zip ties \u201cin all sorts of crazy directions\u201d didn\u2019t stop the attacks either \u2013 though it did keep the birds from making contact.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Then came the more unconventional methods.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, \u2018Okay, maybe the helmet itself is the trigger, so what happens if I cover it completely with a bird mask?\u2019\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
She tried a seagull mask, which initially worked \u2013 until she met a different bird that wasn\u2019t fooled.<\/p>\n
The biggest surprise came next.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe wig really shocked me,\u201d Skinner says.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor whatever reason, this big voluminous hair seemed to bypass their threat perception. I didn\u2019t end up getting swooped at all. It\u2019s been the only thing that\u2019s completely stopped the more aggressive magpie I\u2019ve been testing on.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Even the T-shirts are perfect for the occasion. Photo: Screenshot.<\/p>\n
She began with one particularly feisty bird but soon noticed it out with its chick.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I hopped on the Magpie Alert website<\/a> to find an even more aggro one, and it\u2019s been quite interesting to see the differences in behaviour. Some strategies that worked on one, like tinsel, were completely ineffective on the second.\u201d<\/p>\nHer videos \u2013 often featuring swoops in slow motion \u2013 have now garnered hundreds of thousands of views and even been featured by outlets like The Today Show.<\/p>\n
The best part, she says, has been the flood of suggestions from followers.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the current magpie is a real keen ear-biter, I wouldn\u2019t mind trying some fake ears over the top of the helmet to see if that does anything,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cOr, given it\u2019s Halloween, maybe a mask on the back of the helmet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other ideas have been less appealing.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne person suggested putting Vegemite on my ears \u2013 but for one, I\u2019m not sure it would work, and two, even if it did, I don\u2019t think I want to walk around all day with my ears smelling like Vegemite.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The seagull mask was a failure with this \u201csavage\u201d. Photo: Screenshot.<\/p>\n
Next year, Skinner hopes her experiments might inspire a bigger effort.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hopped on Google Scholar to read what\u2019s been published about swooping deterrence, and there\u2019s actually not a heap of information,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the great thing about the internet era is that citizen science is more accessible than ever \u2026 so hey, who knows, maybe next year we can do The Great Aussie Swoop Experiment, where everyone tries crazy things and sees what actually works.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, she\u2019s content being Canberra\u2019s unofficial magpie test subject \u2013 though her experiments make for an interesting cycling kit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what, if for whatever reason I ever get stopped and the police dig through my backpack, it would be very difficult to explain what all of the different wacky props were for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Steph, we salute you.<\/p>\n
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