A magpie attack can be a terrifying experience, and this year reports of swooping in the Canberra area seem to be coming in a little earlier than usual. We asked an expert about the usual behaviour of this sometimes aggressive bird as springtime approaches.

After a run-in with a magpie on his way to deliver fresh eggs to his daughter in Canberra’s south, Ken Batterham was left battered and bruised.

Travelling at a speed of more than 25 kilometres per hour, and with a feisty magpie hot on his tail, Ken prematurely reached for the brakes.

“People always think about birds breeding in springtime, but many birds start their breeding in winter so that the young are coming out when there’s lots of food in spring, and it’s typical for magpies in the Canberra district to start nest-building in July,” he said.

“Magpies seem to be more aggressive towards people on bikes and running through their territory, so if you’re a cyclist, you could be injured, not from the magpie, but from the fright you get, and then the injury you get from a bike crash,” he said.

“Magpies see intruders in their territory as potentially dangerous to their young, and, in the city, they see these intruders - i.e. us - walking, running, strolling through their territories, and they think of us as a potential threat,” he said.