Misunderstood Magpies

Maggie muggers are causing chaos again, dementedly dive-bombing people they perceive as threats to their nests. But are these two-tone terrors just misunderstood, or a menace that should be banished?

By Alec Smart

Magpie swooping - Photo by David Jenkins (BirdsAsPoetry)

Spring has sprung, trees and flowers are blooming, bees gathering pollen, birds and animals courting, and the days are getting longer and warmer. However, if you’re roaming around the neighbourhood, especially if you’re astride a bicycle or jogging, be very wary of avian ambush. Magpies are swooping!

They are highly territorial birds and when nesting or raising chicks they will often swoop on perceived predators that stray too close to their bowl-shaped nests. These are typically established in a cleft of a branch atop tall eucalypts and pine trees, although they will also build nests on power poles and rooftops. 

The ‘swooping season’ lasts up to eight weeks, from August to November. While the female may be sat in the nest, or guiding a chick along the ground, the males are usually the most aggressive in protecting their territory (90% of swoopers are male magpies). 

They will defend a radius up to 100 metres wide around the nest, ambushing from behind, striking with claws whilst shrieking and ‘clacking’ their beaks.

Nesting, not nuisance

Females lay 3-5 eggs, and the chicks are fed for 4-5 weeks until fledging, then rely on their parents for two months or more while they learn how to forage for invertebrates – including caterpillars, cicadas, snails, spiders, stick insects, wasps - and small creatures, such as mice, lizards and small birds. 

Because it usually requires the full attention of each parent to raise a chick, usually only two from a clutch of three or more survive into adulthood. Unwanted chicks are typically found beneath a nest, at the mercy of predators.

A popular story of an abandoned magpie chick named ‘Penguin’ raised in a human household, where a disabled woman was recovering from a near-catastrophic balcony fall, was filmed as Penguin Bloom starring Naomi Watts. Released in 2020, it was filmed on Sydney’s Northern Beaches (the Bloom family live in Newport). 

Magpies will raid other birds’ nests for eggs and chicks to eat, which is why the fiercely territorial noisy miners and the introduced Indian mynas frequently band together to drive magpies from their breeding grounds.

Magpie on pole - Photo by David Jenkins (BirdsAsPoetry)

According to the Australian Museum: “Magpies can live in groups as large as 20 individuals or more. Suitable breeding sites are in short supply and once attained, a territory must be defended to prevent it from being reduced or seized by a rival group. 

“All individuals in a group help defend the territory from other birds, but it is usually the males that defend the nest during breeding season. Magpies can hold a territory in excess of ten years and have a lifespan of 25-30 years.”

Meaningful magpies

Magpies are no relation to the Eurasian magpie from whom they are named, which are corvids, a family that includes crows, ravens, rooks, jays, jackdaws and nutcrackers. In fact, Australian magpies are most closely related to the black butcherbird (Melloria quoyi) and perhaps should be renamed the pied butcherbird.

To the Dharug-speaking Eora peoples of Sydney they are djarrawunang; further afield the Dharawal-speaking clans south of Kamay/Botany Bay call them djiriwunj and the Wirradjuri clans of central NSW know them as booroogong.

Their Latin classification, Gymnorhina tibicen, translates literally as ‘naked nostril flute player’ due to their uncovered beak nostrils and melodious warbling.

Like the kookaburra, lorikeet, noisy miner, and currawong, magpies are listed by the Australian Museum as among the top 30 urban birds that reside and thrive in human settlements. They look similar to currawongs, although currawongs have yellow eyeballs instead of the rustic red-brown of magpies, a longer, larger beak and their white feathers are confined to the tips of their wings and tails. 

Currawongs’ birdsong is a bland ‘curra-wong curra-wong’ in comparison to the euphonious, diverse range of complex vocalisations of the magpie, which can cover four octaves. 

Brisbane Council sign warning of swooping magpies (and butcher birds) in the vicinity. Photo: Alec Smart

Avoiding injury 

Magpies typically strike from behind, often soundlessly – so it’s best to walk slowly away from the area in which a territorial bird is swooping. Magpies are well known for targeting faster-moving threats, which means cyclists and joggers are more vulnerable – so don’t run away.

If repeatedly swooped, look downwards and cover your face, to protect your eyes from getting scratched. 

A wide-brimmed hat or a raised, open umbrella provide good protection from bird-strike if you’re walking through a park or neighbourhood where nesting birds are prevalent.

Magpies tend to target individuals, so, strolling in a group affords better protection from aggressive birds.

For cyclists, weaving plastic cable-ties through a helmet and leaving the long ends protruding, so it resembles an echidna, is a very effective deterrent. The diving bird mistakes them for sharp spikes, and veers away from the possibility of impaling itself.

Magpies are highly intelligent and have superb memories, so if you’ve previously annoyed them, they’ll more likely annoy you back during swooping season.

However, only 10% of nesting pairs will swoop on interlopers to their perceived territory, so, although you may receive an evil-eye stare or a shriek of warning, the likelihood of the bird then dive-bombing you is statistically improbable.

Remember, magpies are beneficial to wherever they settle, whether that be rural or urban, because they feed on pest insects, encouraging the growth of food crops and garden plants. 

And whilst you’re ducking and diving from the perhaps overly-assertive magpies, there are other native birds that are also notorious for swooping humans during nesting season. Alphabetically, they are: grey butcher birds, laughing kookaburras, magpie-larks, plovers (aka masked lapwings) and red wattlebirds. 

So, remember, keep your eyes peeled and well protected!

There is a dedicated website to report or check for territorial swoopers! It’s called Magpie Alert and you can register (free of charge) to determine potential danger spots to avoid.

Visit here: https://www.magpiealert.com/