The science of magpie swooping: one cyclist’s mission to deter springtime attacks

Australian Community Media

Stephanie Skinner has had a fair few run-ins with local magpies over her seven years of cycling in Canberra. Now she’s putting her body on the line to test the best methods of swoop deterence.

Transcript

00:00The telltale arrival of springtime is enough to strike fear into the very

00:04heart and soul of every Aussie. Tis the season when magpies choose violence.

00:12Canberra-based cycling enthusiast Stephanie Skinner is putting her body

00:17on the line for science, testing various magpie deterrent strategies and

00:21documenting her results for her Instagram followers.

00:25I actually had a lot of people recommend a big curly wig, so fit check.

00:29Will it find a giant latex seagull mask offensive as well?

00:34Now I was going to wear it like this.

00:36Early on I just tried with the classics, you know, the eyes on the back of the helmet,

00:40the zip ties, and then I just sort of put it out to the people on Instagram.

00:45What other things should I test?

00:47And there were a lot of people who actually suggested, which sounded crazy to me, trying

00:52to go without a helmet altogether or covering the helmet with like a great big wig.

00:57And so I started exploring that angle, you know, is it actually the helmet that is the

01:02cause of, I don't know, all of the aggression?

01:05Do they just hate bike helmet?

01:08And there were a lot of people saying, oh, well, what if the magpie just wasn't swooping

01:10that day?

01:11Through this process, I have actually been taking control runs after every experimental, like,

01:18trial, and every time I've been swooped.

01:21So I think that leads me to believe that the helmet is definitely somehow causing the magpies

01:29to be aggressive.

01:30We are entering magpie territory.

01:33Hey buddy, what's going on?

01:38I think it's also been quite good to just get more comfortable with getting swooped.

01:42Like it's now at the point where I just find it kind of hilarious.

01:45But if you'd asked me that, you know, seven years ago when I first started cycling, I'd

01:48be like, no, that is insane.

01:50Why would anyone do that?

01:51Um, but yeah, I guess exposure therapy in some way.

01:54So that's been good.

01:55Now the 30 year old cyclist is hoping her social media experiments will spark a citizen science

02:01movement.

02:02So I think it would be fantastic to do a much bigger citizen science project where you have

02:11a whole bunch of people trialing a whole different strategies and trialing those strategies in

02:16different orders too.

02:18You know, there is that sort of familiarity element that I'm concerned about.

02:21You know, this magpie is seeing me come past day after day after day.

02:26After a while, will it just decide that I'm no longer a threat?

02:28My God, that was the best swooping of my life.

02:33My one regret is that I didn't start sooner.

02:35We're sort of coming to the point in swooping season and I already see it.

02:38I'll go down to my magpie, you know, do my test runs.

02:42But in the last few days, I've actually seen the little baby magpie out and about.

02:48Guys, I think the experimenting has come to an end.

02:50Old mate is actually out and about with his little bubba.

02:54And they're very cute.

02:55I love baby magpies.

02:56They're just the goofiest birds.

02:58That means that since baby is out and about, it's only a matter of time before swooping

03:02season is done altogether.

03:03And then the experiment will come to a close, unfortunately.

03:06So next year, this is, you know, this is sort of a good pilot test to see whether you can

03:11do some fun science about swooping.

03:14I think next year I'll try and get involved much earlier, recruit more people into the

03:18experiment and try and do things in a slightly more scientific way.

03:22So that should be good fun.

03:23All right, now after all that, you know, riding away all misty eyed, thinking about

03:27all mate embarking on the magic of parenthood.

03:30He actually cracked me at the back of the head harder than he ever has.

03:35So it turns out we're still mortal enemies.

03:37So that does put to rest the theory that if you talk nice to them, they don't swoop.

03:41Myth busted.

03:42You know, even though it has been fun testing things out, I think magpies are the absolute,

03:46they're my absolute favorite bird.

03:48I think they're so funny.

03:50They've got like the personality of a dog in like a bird's body.

03:53And even though for a month or two every year, we end up being mortal enemies, the rest of

03:57the time, I think they're fantastic birds.

04:00So I just want everyone to respect and love magpies because they genuinely do have fantastic

04:05little personalities.

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