
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 Sarah, Ellen and Alannah

Your 9AM Zedlines with Sarah, Alannah and Ellen

Your 8AM Zedlines with Miko and Niamh
IMG: “National Day of Action: Stop Black Deaths In Custody - Melbourne/Naarm” by Matt Hrkac, CC BY 2.0

Your 10am Zedlines with Charlie, Ava, and Dan

Your 8am Zedlines with Charlie, Dan, and Ava. Image credit Tatiana Gerus on Flickr

Your 11AM Zedlines with Eden, Stella and HG
Your 9am Zedlines with Stella and Eden
IMG: Supplied Jess Beckerling MLC

Your 8AM Zedlines with Sarah, Em and Vivek

Your 11AM Zedlines with Lachlan and Hailey
Your 10AM Zedlines with Miko & Georgie
IMG Credit: Arthur Chapman, Flickr

Your 9AM Zedlines with Georgie and Hailey

Your 8AM Zedlines with Lachlan and Miko

Your 11AM Zedlines with Garry and Livinia
Your 10AM Zedlines with Jules, Zayna and Dane

Your 9AM Zedlines with Zayna, Livina and Garry

Your 9AM Zedlines with Ellen, Sarah, Alannah and Niamh

Your 8AM Zedlines with Sarah, Ellen, Alannah and Niamh

Your 11AM Zedlines with Toby and Chelsea

Your 8AM Zedlines with Chelsea and Toby

Your 10AM Zedlines with Toby and Chelsea

Your 9AM Zedlines with Chelsea and Toby

Your 11AM Zedlines with Annabel and Deana

Your 10AM Zedlines with Deana and Jon

Your 9AM Zedlines with Jon and Annabel
IMG: From Inside Local News

Your 8AM Zedlines with Annabel and Jon

Your 11AM Zedlines with Max and Jaz

Your 9AM Zedlines with Max, Jaz and Annisa

Your 10AM Zedlines with Max and Jaz