
It’s that time of year again, that prelude to Spring… magpie swooping season. Do you really understand these birds and how to live with them and mitigate swooping?
4ZZZ's Eliot Rifkin chatted about magpies with Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in animal behaviour from the University of New England, as well as an author of some best selling books.
For a deep dive...
To visit Professor Gisela Kaplan's bio page as well as see her bibliography of her award winning books on the animal behaviour of Magpies, Orangutans, Dogs and of course Native Australian Birds. One of Gisela's many books is Cognition and Behaviour of Australian Native Birds. Here's the wikipedia on the Australian Magpie as well as Birdlife Australia's profile on our magpie.
Here's a government websites which gives tips on how to avoid being swooped and Magpie Alert! a social website which tracks aggressive magpies as well as another crowdsourced online map which tracks where the currently swooping magpies. If you'd like to delve into Magpie intelligence, read the "Nature versus nurture: the key to magpie intelligence" article.

Your 11AM Zedlines with Asha and Charlie (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

Your 9AM Zedlines with Ava and Dan! (Image via Flickr)

Your 9AM Zedlines with asha and Charlie! (Image via ABC News)

Your 8AM Zedlines with Ava and Dan! (Image via Flickr)

Your 11AM Zedlines with Alec, Stella, and Em

Your 9am zedlines with Vivek, Em and Alec.

Your 8am zedlines with Alec, Vivek, and Stella.

Your 11AM Zedlines with Cass and Lachlan

Your 10AM Zedlines with Hailey and Georgie.

Your 9AM Zedlines with Lachlan and Hailey.

Your 8am Zedlines with Cass and Georgie.

Your 11AM Zedlines with Clem, Zayna and Livinia
Image Credit: Pexels

Your 9AM Zedlines with Clem, Zayna and Livinia
Image: Flickr

Your 8AM Zedlines with Dane, Livinia, Clem
Image: Flickr

Your 11am Zedlines with Niamh, Alannah and Sarah
Image via Wikicommons

Your 10am Zedlines with Sarah, Alannah and Niamh
image via credit: ইব্রাহিম হাসান via wikimedia commons

Your 9am Zedlines with Sarah, Alannah and Niamh
Image via Flickr

Your 8am Zedlines with Sarah Alannah and Niamh
(image via Wikicommons)

Your 11AM Zedlines with Asha and Yuchen (Image via Wikicommons Media)

Your 10AM Zedlines with Charlie, Dan and Ethan (Image via Flickr)

Your 9AM Zedlines with Asha and Yuchen (Image via Flickr)

Your 8AM Zedlines with Charlie, Dan and Ethan (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

Your 8am zedlines with Vivek, Sarah, Em and Alec.

Your 11AM Zedlines with Georgie and Hailey

Your 10AM Zedlines with Lachlan and Cass

Your 9AM Zedlines with Hailey and Georgie.

Your 8AM Zedlines with Cass and Lachlan

Students at a high school in Brisbane are snubbing the school bus service over concerns of repeated late slips, with parents reporting bus delays as long as 20 minutes.