
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.

This is your 11am Zedlines with Ellen and Alannah.

Your 10am Zedlines with Niamh and Miko

Your 9am Zedlines with Ellen and Alannah
Your 8am Zedlines with Niamh and Miko.
Image supplied.

Your 11AM Zedlines with Ethan and Ava

Your 10AM Zedlines with Dan and Charlie

Your 9AM Zedlines with Ava and Ethan
IMG: From Wikimedia

Your 8AM Zedlines with Charlie and Dan
IMG: From Wikimedia

Your 11AM Zedlines with Stella, Alec, and Eden

Your 10AM Zedlines with Em, Vivek, and Alec.

Your 9AM Zedlines with Vivek, Eden and Stella.

Your 8AM Zedlines with Alec, Vivek and Em.

Your 11AM Zedlines with Lachlan and Georgie

Your 10AM Zedlines with Hailey and Cass

Your 9AM Zedlines with Georgie and Lachlan

Your 8AM Zedlines with Hailey and Cass

Your 11AM Zedlines with Livinia Clementine and Jules

Your 10AM Zedlines with Livinia, Dane and Clementine

Your 9AM Zedlines with Dane and Jules

Your 8AM Zedlines with Livinia, Clementine and Jules

Your 11AM Zedlines with Niamh & Alannah
(Image Credit: Photos By Capy)

Your 10AM Zedlines with Sarah & Miko
(Image via: Wikimedia)

Your 9AM Zedlines with Niamh & Alannah
(Image Via: Flickr)

Your 8AM Zedlines with Sarah & Miko
(Image via: Wikimedia)

Your 11AM Zedlines with Ava, Charlie and Dan! (Image via PickPik)

Your 10AM Zedlines with Asha, Ethan and Yuchen! (Image via Littles Lawyers')

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

Your 8AM Zedlines with Asha, Ethan and Yuchen! (Image via Wikimedia)