No, really. The Tea Tree Gully Council is warning its residents to be on guard for a feathered fiend which is terrorising pedestrians in Surrey Downs.
They’ve even posted a list of survival tips including wearing sunglasses and a hard hat such as a bike helmet; carrying a stick above your head or an open umbrella; and setting up a bird feeding table at home so they recognise you as a friend.
It’s advice backed up by Gisela Kaplan, a professor in animal behaviour at the University of New England, who recently told the ABC that magpies “will only swoop when he doesn’t know somebody.”
“We know that magpies remember and recognise human faces and they will remember them for years,” Dr Kaplan said.
As male magpies are most likely to swoop during breeding season – which runs from now until early October – it might be too late for the citizens of Tea Tree Gully to cosy up to this particular avian.
But if magpies do remember faces, it could be worth making friends before next season – in case it comes back for another reign of terror.
