8/9/12 2:07 AM

Magpie nesting season has just started here, though it's not yet in full swing. Male Australian Magpies can get quite aggressive in nesting season if they think their nest is being threatened, and will strafe people who get too close unless they know them well. Cyclists seem to be one of their pet hates, which I think is due to the helmets making heads larger and more of a threat - here's a bit of video on YT which demonstrates it quite well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wHreVKgOT4

When the world road titles were held in Geelong a couple of years back, it was towards the end of magpie nesting season, and quite a number of European Pros found themselves being attacked while out training - Philippe Gilbert being one. He commented at the time that he wasn't going to adorn his helmet with zip ties as a lot of the local cyclists do in an attempt to keep the birds at bay...

8/9/12 5:18 AM

It makes me wonder if anyone has tried a hair or fur cover on a helmet?

10/3/14 4:48 AM

The year has come around to swooping season time again, and a friend from Bathurst (a town about three hours drive north of here) sent me this photo taken by a camera on the handlebars. So far this season, I've been thumped on the back a couple of times and bitten on the ear once:

10/3/14 6:48 PM

Here in Michigan it is Red Wing Blackbirds. Not as big as a magpie but just as aggressive and lots of them. One year we had one nesting along our local rail trail and that bird would hit your helmet nearly every ride, coming and going. I figure it so exhausted itself that it never got a mate. Every year from mid-May to mid-July (equivalent of mid-November to mid-January down under) they buzz you, squawk at you, and try to scare you off. Entertaining until they actually hit you.

10/3/14 8:14 PM

http://www.winchester.com/Products/shotshell-ammunition/Performance/Super-X-Shotshell/Pages/WE12GTH6.aspx

Above would be the most common remedy in my parts.

I would avoid the areas. They look to be just as annoying as chasing dogs.

10/4/14 2:17 AM

Magpies are a protected species here, so trying to harm them can cop a pretty hefty fine. And anyway, I quite like them. They're pretty smart birds, and can recognize people who they know - we have a local pair of magpies who nest in our neighbour's garden and raise offspring every year, and they never swoop us when we're out in the garden, even though we're well within their territory.

10/4/14 3:00 AM

I would be just like you. I was pointing out what most of the people in my area would do about them.

Odd that they attack the helmets but not the person.

10/4/14 6:50 AM

You must have an aggressive sub-species. We had lots of RWB in the St Paul burb where I grew up, and when I lived along the Mississippi in Wisconsin. I never experienced or heard of any attacks. Beautiful birds, though!

10/4/14 7:35 AM

One year we had a pair of nesting Goshawks in the woods about 200 yards outside our fence. Goshawks have a 4 foot wingspan and are known as aerial acrobats. Whenever I would go through the rear gate, Mama Goshawk would divebomb me, accompanied by deafening screeching. I literally hit the ground several times, with her missing my head by about a foot. She would come low through the trees like a black ops pilot. One time she knocked me down, then just perched in a tree waiting for me to get up, when she did it again.

Anyway, I was the only one she hated. She didn't care about my wife or the dogs, she hated only me.

10/4/14 5:26 PM

Gulls are big and get very aggressive in nesting season. Because of their size, they can do a lot of damage. Like other birds, they always seem to attack their target's head. However, since they're coastal animals that typically nest on islands, they're more of an issue for kayakers and other boaters than cyclists.

Geese on the other hand are a major pain in some areas where I ride. They're dumb as a rock and just stupid aggressive. However, they're rather clumsy and slow to maneuver, so about all they do is snap at you and whack you with their wings. They're a real infestation and many don't even migrate anymore, partly because there are morons who feed them all winter. They completely trash many public parks and other open spaces by eating the vegetation to the ground and crapping all over the place. If I had my way, I'd solve that problem the same way as Erik's neighbors.