Cyclist dies after swooping magpie causes bike crash
An elderly cyclist has died after a freak bike accident caused by a swooping magpie near an Illawarra beach.
Witnesses reported a 76-year-old man was riding a bike on an off-road path that runs along the length of Woonona Beach and Nicholson Park shortly after 8am on Sunday, when he swerved off the path to avoid the magpie.
The man then collided with a fence post and was thrown from his bike, police said in a statement.
Despite wearing a helmet, he suffered serious head injuries and was treated at the scene before being flown to St George Hospital in a critical condition.
He died of his injuries on Sunday evening.
Witnesses told Nine News the magpie was swooping at another cyclist when the man became distracted and ran off the path, which local residents say is a notorious spot for magpie attacks.
Nathan Foster, whose wife was the cyclist being attacked, said, "His eyes were off the track because he was concerned about the magpie swooping [down on] him ... and he just went over the fence and sustained some pretty bad injuries."
Officers from Wollongong Police District are investigating, and a report will be prepared for the coroner.
The tragedy has reignited debate about the management of aggressive magpies during swooping season. Comment has been sought from Wollongong Shire Council.
Mark Lawrie, chief executive of the Sydney University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, said it was "pretty much impossible" to stop magpies from aggressive swooping once they have learnt the behaviour.
"It’s a repeat behaviour from individual birds, not the whole magpie clan," he said.
"Certain birds learn to attack and swoop, and [it's] probably like the barking dog with someone walking past the property; because the people go away, they think they’ve been successful, so it reinforces the behaviour."
Magpies also "seem to be able to recognise individuals who are aggressive to them" and will target them, Dr Lawrie said.
The best thing to do to protect yourself against swooping magpies is to avoid areas where they are known to be swooping, especially if you've been attacked in that spot before.
Wearing protection such as a hat and sunglasses is also a good idea, although the old idea that sticking "eyes" on a hat or helmet will trick magpies is unlikely to work.
"Magpies are very smart birds ... my thinking is they probably wouldn’t fall for the eyes," Dr Lawrie said.
However, for cyclists, he said, "You see these bike helmets often where they've put cable ties spiking up on top ... there's probably some wisdom in that to say if they hit those spikes they'll move away."