Originally posted by xjjohnno Lovely capture Richard.
The Aussie magpie is from the caroller group of birds with a very pretty warbling song. In spring when they are nesting they become a tad aggressive and will swoop or peck those they deem be a threat to their hatchlings. Obviously the bicycling community have peeved them off in the past, no doubt running them over because they've neglected to use their bells when approaching and not giving adequate warning. This is what happens when folk play pelaton in public parks. The denizens reap their revenge.
Thanks, John.
A 'tad' aggressive? I admire your capacity for understatement.
I've never done anything to incur their antipathy that I can think of. I don't even have a bell on any of my bikes. But watch out mate, they also attack motor bike riders
A friend lifted his visor once and one of them flew straight in. Ouch!
I've only been swoooped once and that was on the velodrome in Hawthorn. This is bike territory and magpies should understand that we're just going round and round and round in endless ovals.
After the first swoop, I made some mods to my helmet which can be seen here
Swooping birds — Bicycle Victoria. That was Mark I. I have since reduced the cable ties and now just use two vertical ones on Mark IV, which has been going fine for a couple of years. I've just had the occasional scouting mission and no bombing runs with my latest design. Oh yeah. Now that that the last pair of my Oakley Eyeshades have given up, I can't use the sat nav excuse any more. I just tell people that it's for channeling the people in the spaceship on the other side of Mars
Richard.