Monday, July 20, 2009

What Are You Looking At?

Australian magpies bear no relation to the northern hemisphere ones except that they are black and white. They are much bigger and have a very distinctive warble. I like their no-nonsense walk and the way they swoop down and pick up little lizards and insects from the ground, often without stopping.

During the breeding season in winter and spring, magpies get very territorial... and if they don't like the look of you, they go for you, swooping at your head and trying to peck at your face. According to statistics, you are more likely to get attacked if you are male, between 10 and 30 and riding a bike. So watch out!

Read more here (includes picture of postman being swooped).

5 comments:

Julie said...

Good shot showing his intensity.

This is where an ice-cream container on the head comes in handy!

Ann said...

Nasty things (they used to dive bomb the cat) but good photo.

Anonymous said...

nice shot with black bird.

john

Free Satellite TV

Merisi said...

Love that bird. Hope you got out of its reach without any incidents!

Thank goodness, I am out of the danger zone! :-)

Stefan Jansson said...

Great shot of the bird. I'm yet to meet a bird that like cats.

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