Ouch! @#$%^ birds

DaveB said:

Definitely not looking forward to tomorrow morning, as I
reckon I'll be feeling very sore.
DaveB

Ouch! Think I mentioned something like this in the other Magpie thread... sorry for talking about it Dave. I have been taken out as well, I was taken out up near Noosa, inland from Noosa they have the train tracks that the sugar cane carts use, I was busy swatting a really aggresive bird away when me wheel hit the train line, Bird (1) v Me (0)

So Yarra Boulevarde to be avoided as well.... its heating up!

MikeyOz said:

So Yarra Boulevarde to be avoided as well.... its heating up!

Bugger, have to do Secret Training elsewhere. 🙂

BTW - are there any reports of the feisty little buggers on other routes/paths in Melboring? Maybe it's a nifty idea for magpie-sightings to be posted, so others can be aware of aggro behaviour & try to avoid them where possible!

PS - Dave, was the injury fall-related or magpie strike?

DaveB said:

Riding to work this morning I was running a little ahead of schedule and
it was such a nice morning for a ride I decided to take the long-cut via
Yarra Boulie. You could feel the serenity until some little critter
smacked into the side of my head. I sped up as the little bugger had
another go and as I tried to swerve out of his way one of the panniers
caught the rear wheel. Next thing I'm on the bike and in the gutter
sliding along the kerb thinking "this is really gonna hurt when I hit
the ground". I was right, it did. Lay there for a few minutes and a few
other cyclists dropped by to make sure I was ok. No damage to the bike,
but a fair bit of blood by the time I got to work and 45 mins to clean
myself up. Definitely not looking forward to tomorrow morning, as I
reckon I'll be feeling very sore.

DaveB

Now Patrick's going to tell you to toughen up, dearie!
;-)

In aus.bicycle on Tue, 28 Aug 2007 19:10:16 +1000

cfsmtb said:

BTW - are there any reports of the feisty little buggers on other
routes/paths in Melboring? Maybe it's a nifty idea for magpie-sightings
to be posted, so others can be aware of aggro behaviour & try to avoid
them where possible!

A new use for Bikely!

Zebee

Wowa nasty! Was that you I saw at Kew junction today around 4pm? I was heading toward the boulie for some hilly action.

Anyways I have a new theory... magpies will probably go for an easy target (or tallest).... So I rekkon we all ride next to Gags for two months!

lama

On 2007-08-28, DaveB (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

Riding to work this morning I was running a little ahead of schedule and
it was such a nice morning for a ride I decided to take the long-cut via
Yarra Boulie. You could feel the serenity until some little critter
smacked into the side of my head. I sped up as the little bugger had
another go and as I tried to swerve out of his way one of the panniers
caught the rear wheel. Next thing I'm on the bike and in the gutter
sliding along the kerb thinking "this is really gonna hurt when I hit
the ground". I was right, it did. Lay there for a few minutes and a few
other cyclists dropped by to make sure I was ok. No damage to the bike,
but a fair bit of blood by the time I got to work and 45 mins to clean
myself up. Definitely not looking forward to tomorrow morning, as I
reckon I'll be feeling very sore.

Now that it has demonstrated that it is a dangerous bird, perhaps EPA
Victoria would also be interested in it, as per the Qld suggestion in
the other thread?

I'm pretty sure there is a department that takes responsibility for
the extermination of pest magpies in Victoria (might or might not be
EPA).

Damn, DaveB, but no crash bandicoot points for crashes by bird of
prey.

--
TimC
I'm all for computer dating, but I wouldn't want one to marry my sister. --unk

Donga said:

Now Patrick's going to tell you to toughen up, dearie!
;-)

Team CSC has been wearing HTFU bracelets, as LiveWrong is sooooo three years ago

gplama said:

Wowa nasty! Was that you I saw at Kew junction today around 4pm? I was
heading toward the boulie for some hilly action.

Anyways I have a new theory... magpies will probably go for an easy
target (or tallest).... So I rekkon we all ride next to Gags for two
months!

lama

Yep that was me, I thought it might be you but the Top Gear kit threw
me, then I remembered you had some of that but too late.

DaveB

DaveB said:

Riding to work this morning I was running a little ahead of schedule and
it was such a nice morning for a ride I decided to take the long-cut via
Yarra Boulie. You could feel the serenity until some little critter
smacked into the side of my head. I sped up as the little bugger had
another go and as I tried to swerve out of his way one of the panniers
caught the rear wheel. Next thing I'm on the bike and in the gutter
sliding along the kerb thinking "this is really gonna hurt when I hit
the ground". I was right, it did. Lay there for a few minutes and a few
other cyclists dropped by to make sure I was ok. No damage to the bike,
but a fair bit of blood by the time I got to work and 45 mins to clean
myself up. Definitely not looking forward to tomorrow morning, as I
reckon I'll be feeling very sore.

DaveB

Ouch is right. It may not have in fact been a magpie, but a butcher bird
or even the humble wattle bird, they bomb too, and they tend to hit the
head, whereas magpies don't always make contact (though give you a good
whack if they do).
Is it my imagination, or 25 years ago were magpies only bombing around
Grand Final time and only for a few weeks? Now they often start in July,
and I've been bombed on Cup Day. And there seems to be a lot more of the
little bludgers.
Commiserations,
Ray

ray said:

Ouch is right. It may not have in fact been a magpie, but a butcher bird

Yes I suspect you could be right. As I lay on the ground I looked around
for the offending bird and all I could see was a butcher bird. The
annoying thing is I rode that section of road a couple of times on
Sunday and the bugger was nowhere to be seen. Evasive action that day
would have been no problem without the panniers.

DaveB

DaveB said:

Riding to work this morning I was running a little ahead of schedule and
it was such a nice morning for a ride I decided to take the long-cut via
Yarra Boulie. You could feel the serenity until some little critter
smacked into the side of my head. I sped up as the little bugger had
another go and as I tried to swerve out of his way one of the panniers
caught the rear wheel. Next thing I'm on the bike and in the gutter
sliding along the kerb thinking "this is really gonna hurt when I hit
the ground". I was right, it did. Lay there for a few minutes and a few
other cyclists dropped by to make sure I was ok. No damage to the bike,
but a fair bit of blood by the time I got to work and 45 mins to clean
myself up. Definitely not looking forward to tomorrow morning, as I
reckon I'll be feeling very sore.

DaveB

Just ride straight, and wave em away.

They cannot hurt if you don't let them.

Patrick Turner, happy victim of hundreds of maggie attacks over 20 years
total and 110,000 kms of cycling.

"gplama" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Wowa nasty! Was that you I saw at Kew junction today around 4pm? I was
heading toward the boulie for some hilly action.

Anyways I have a new theory... magpies will probably go for an easy
target (or tallest).... So I rekkon we all ride next to Gags for two
months!

I got swooped by a Magpie last year on the Boulevard - he came back for a
second go and I was lucky enough that the sun was positioned so that I could
see his shadow on the road next to me. When I judged that he was pretty
close to my head I flailed my right arm up above my head and managed to clip
his wing - this sent him packing although I did have a clenched fist and was
hoping for a head or body shot!!!

Gags

DaveB said:

... as I tried to swerve out of his way one of the panniers
caught the rear wheel. Next thing I'm on the bike and in the gutter
sliding along the kerb thinking "this is really gonna hurt when I hit
the ground". I was right, it did.

*wince* Bummer! Hope you're not crippled for too long.

Has anyone ever tried that painted-eyes-on-back-of-helmet thing? Just
curious as to whether it actually works or if it's just another myth.

It's been quite a while since I was last bombed, IIRC I was on foot
walking past a used car dealer and saw the "danger, swooping bird"
sign after he'd made his third kamikaze run at me. ;-)

BTH

Patrick Turner said:

Just ride straight, and wave em away.

They cannot hurt if you don't let them.

I'm unconvinced after getting the ear treatment (despite
frantically trying to wave the bird away) outside Cockington
Green (Canberra) a couple of years ago.

I'm looking at improvising some sort of ear protection this
year.

But what I really want is a helmet-mounted rear-facing capsicum
spray I can trigger from the handlebars 🙂

John

John Henderson said:

But what I really want is a helmet-mounted rear-facing capsicum
spray I can trigger from the handlebars 🙂

I don't know if magpies are susceptible to capsicum spray - though it might
be fun to find out. My thoughts run to a spring-loaded net arrangment
something like those ancient gladiators used in conjunction with a trident.
At a touch of a button, the net unfolds itself from your helmet and engulfs
the magpie as it's about to strike. Then you can have your wicked way with
it.

--
beerwolf

DaveB said:

Riding to work this morning I was running a little ahead of schedule and
it was such a nice morning for a ride I decided to take the long-cut via
Yarra Boulie. You could feel the serenity until some little critter
smacked into the side of my head. I sped up as the little bugger had
another go and as I tried to swerve out of his way one of the panniers
caught the rear wheel. Next thing I'm on the bike and in the gutter
sliding along the kerb thinking "this is really gonna hurt when I hit
the ground". I was right, it did. Lay there for a few minutes and a few
other cyclists dropped by to make sure I was ok. No damage to the bike,
but a fair bit of blood by the time I got to work and 45 mins to clean
myself up. Definitely not looking forward to tomorrow morning, as I
reckon I'll be feeling very sore.

DaveB

Bummer isn't it.
I'm in central Vic and over 50 plus years and countless swooping magpies
I'm yet to have one make physical contact.
Are the city maggies worse or because they get more practice are they
more accurate? Perhaps the bloodthirsty one in the country get wasted
and don't pass on the nasty genes. Who knows?
Halcyon

Halcyon said:

Bummer isn't it.
I'm in central Vic and over 50 plus years and countless swooping
magpies I'm yet to have one make physical contact.
Are the city maggies worse or because they get more practice are they
more accurate? Perhaps the bloodthirsty one in the country get wasted
and don't pass on the nasty genes. Who knows?

It's the lairy lycra that attracts them.

Theo

Theo Bekkers said:

Halcyon said:

Bummer isn't it.
I'm in central Vic and over 50 plus years and countless swooping
magpies I'm yet to have one make physical contact.
Are the city maggies worse or because they get more practice are they
more accurate? Perhaps the bloodthirsty one in the country get wasted
and don't pass on the nasty genes. Who knows?

It's the lairy lycra that attracts them.

I find that speed is the important thing with magpies. If you have the
opportunity, just go straight and fast... they tend not to be able to
get more than maybe one swoop in. On the other hand, the one that swoops
each year on the corner of Athllon & Sulwood is a real [censored] cos you
have to sit there and wait for traffic while the bugger turns you into
swiss cheese!

--
Bean

Remove "yourfinger" before replying

Halcyon said:

Bummer isn't it.
I'm in central Vic and over 50 plus years and countless
swooping magpies I'm yet to have one make physical contact.
Are the city maggies worse or because they get more practice
are they more accurate? Perhaps the bloodthirsty one in the
country get wasted and don't pass on the nasty genes. Who
knows? Halcyon

Some "bush" magpies seem much less confident about getting up
close. When bushwalking I've had them hovering a good 5 metres
overhead, and trying to be threatening from up there. I think
they build up confidence with ongoing experience with their
targets.

John