A frightening encounter with a swooping magpie on a Sydney cycle path prompted British expatriate Jon Clark to create Magpie Alert, a website now used by Australians to report attacks and warn others about dangerous hotspots.
Mr Clark, who moved to Australia more than a decade ago, was cycling along the M7 in north-west Sydney in 2013 when a large black-and-white bird suddenly began diving at him.
“I thought ‘what the f**k’. I knew I had to turn back and it came at me again. It was frightening,” he recalled.
Unlike Australian magpies, which can become fiercely territorial while protecting their nests, their British counterparts are more commonly associated with stealing shiny objects. Mr Clark said he had expected Australia’s spiders, snakes and sharks to pose the greatest threat — not an apparently ordinary garden bird.
After searching online to understand why he had been attacked, he discovered that information about swooping season was scattered across council and cycling websites. Drawing on his professional experience building websites and working with online maps, he decided to create a single national reporting tool.
Magpie Alert allows users to record the location, date and circumstances of a swooping incident, as well as whether anyone was injured. Reports are plotted on a map so cyclists, walkers and other residents can identify areas where attacks have been reported.
The site also provides advice on avoiding swooping birds and compares reports from different seasons. Mr Clark says he runs the free community project in his spare time and funds its ongoing costs himself.
Advice for avoiding magpie attacks
Australian magpies generally swoop while defending eggs or chicks during the breeding season. Advice from Victoria’s Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action includes avoiding known nesting areas, moving calmly and quickly through a hotspot, and protecting the head and eyes.
Cyclists are advised to dismount and walk through areas where birds are swooping. The department also warns people not to harass magpies, disturb nests or feed birds, as such behaviour can increase defensive activity.
Mr Clark’s project has since become familiar to some Australians beyond cycling circles. He said a relative in Britain, who is a fan of the soap opera Neighbours, once told him that the website had been mentioned by the character Karl Kennedy.
Other Australians have developed their own methods for dealing with swooping birds. Adelaide man Mark Muscat, known as The Magpie Man, claims that mimicking a magpie’s warble once caused a bird to stop in mid-attack.
Members of the public have also suggested placing large eyes on bicycle helmets, attaching reflective tape to headwear and, more controversially, offering food to birds in the hope of avoiding future confrontations.
