
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 Liv, Charlie, Annabel and Jasper

Your 8am Zedlines with Liv, Charlie, Annabel and Jasper.

Your 11am Zedlines with Megan, Anastasia, and Sydney

Your 10AM Zedlines with Mario and Aliyah

Your 9am Zedlines with Sydney, Meghan and Anastasia

Your 8am Zedlines with Mario and Aliyah

Your final 11AM Zedlines with the Summer 2026 Friday Zedliners, read by Ava, Ethan and Yuchen (Image via Wikimedia Commons)!

Your 10AM Zedlines with Asha, Dan and Charlie (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

Your 9AM Zedlines with Ava, Ethan and Yuchen (Image via Pexels).

Your 8AM Zedlines with Asha, Charlie and Dan (Image via Flickr).

Your 10AM Zedlines with Sarah, Vivek, Eden and HG
IMG: From wikimedia under CC3.0

Your 9AM Zedlines with Alec, Stella, Em, and Vivek
IMG: From wikimedia under CC4.0

Your 8AM Zedlines with Sarah, Stella, Alec, and Em
IMG: Supplied

Your 11AM Zedlines with Georgia and Cass

Your 10AM Zedlines with Cass and Lachlan

Your 9AM Zedlines with Cass and Georgie

Your 8AM Zedlines with Georgie and Lachlan.

Your 11AM Zedlines with Clementine and Livinia

Your 10AM Zedlines with Clementine and Livinia

Your 8AM Zedlines with Clementine and Livinia

Your 11AM Zedlines with Ava, Charlie and Yuchen! (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

Your 10AM Zedlines with Asha, Dan and Ethan! (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

Your 9AM Zedlines with Ava, Charlie and Yuchen! (Image via Wikimedia Commons)

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

Your 11AM Zedlines with Eden and Alec
IMG: From r/Brisbane from u/Dense_Passenger4174

Your 10AM Zedlines with Vivek and Eden
IMG: From wikimedia under CC4.0

Your 9AM Zedlines with Alec and Eden
IMG: From Pauline Hanson on X

Your 8AM Zedlines with Alec and Vivek
IMG: From wikimedia commons under CC3.0