Spring has spung (well, sort of…)

[Biggles downunder]

Well, officially it’s Spring in Australia but looking at the weather here in South Australia you wouldn’t really know it!

This means that Magpie season is imminent and people who aren’t known to the local magpies will be on the lookout as the birds can get very aggressive when their young are hatching.

A local paper ran this cartoon some years back:

[Baxter]

I watched a magpie swoop a cyclist last week. Funny thing is that they do not swoop me. Maybe it is because I always have Boston my border collie with me and being black and white ..... ?

Next time I saw the swoop victim he had these wires stuck on his helmet. He looked like a hedgehog.

[Windy Jack]

I heard the other day in a discussion of swooping magpies that it is the speed of the cyclist to which the magpies react. Most cyclist would go faster to get away, but that only provokes the magpie more. Apparently the solution is to slow down, or even get off the bike and walk.
Of course, that is not a tactic that would work in our game - landing and staying still - the opposition would have great fun shooting up the target!

[CrashCraig]

You Aussies have all the "fun"

[Stumptonian]

Brings back memories of being 'swooped' by starlings and swallows in my younger days.

[Jager]

So Spring starts early in Oz?
The equinox isn't until 22-SEP-22.
And with all the crazy wildlife you have down there, even the birds don't give you a break .
Karl