Here is an example of the dangerous spurs that we have been taking about in Tassie's Bird Club thread.
Here are the spurs , you can see them quite clearly.
hope this works as it appears Flickr have changed their whole photo format.
My first day on the job at this construction site last year, and the first lesson was... how to get from the office out front and into the site without getting swooped by these two.
Needless to say it was an impossible task, but we did live to tell the tale, and the babies were so cute when you could get close enough for a look without risking life and limb!
Cheers
Birdie
Never knew they had them before, also wanted to say that Sean Dooley is going to be on 702 ABC tonight, so tune in! (702 is the ABC on the radio in NSW anyway, I assume it's different in QLD and the other states?)
Aah Amateur.... you sent me off googling again and I am sorry to say that I didn't even know who Sean Dooley was :(
However, all is not lost as I found this transcript of a 2004 interview that was on the George Negus Tonight Show. Very amusing and I will now go and look for the ABC transcript from last night!
This really made me laugh as I know a particularly obsessive man who is so like this and is birdwatcher with the list near him all the time. I went out with him bird watching and it was like taking a walking , talking encyclopaedia with me!
It was unreal but fantastic for my knowledge base LOL
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Lol, I thought you had read "the big twitch", his book? He goes on the show quite regularily and it really is great to listen to, I'll see if I can find out earlier rather then just letting it play after the footy and hearing he's on just before it starts.
So with the Masked Lapwings, when they swoop will they try and hit with their beak or their spurs?
Thanks Amateur, I found the MP3 version of the interview anyway. I have a birthday coming up so I have out an order in for " The big Twitch" for that. It was a lot more well received than the Photoshop request I tried earlier I can tell you!
As far as the Lapwings are concerned, I believe they try to get you with their wings held out to as to show the spurs. I have read that they buffet eachother in flight in this way when fighting over a territory dispute. Everything I have read infers that the bluff is more of a threat than an attempt to do real injury, but if you ask anyone who has been terrorised by magpies they probably won't agree with this. When you see a lapwing coming towards you at warp speed most of us don't hang around to take much note of what position they are taking ! LOL
Personally, I agree with the advice in every source I have read that wherever possible just avoid the area and the attacks will stop once the young are on the ground and able to run freely. I regularly pass within meters of magpies and their young and have never been attacked. Maybe it just has something to do with the vibe you give out ... who knows?
Sunshine Coast Queensland
Yeah, I must admit I haven't actually seen a Masked Lapwing actually hit a human, usually they pull out just before so I assume the threat probably is correct. However if you listen to the interview I think he was talking about kookaburras and swooping when a caller rang in, and apparently the worst thing to do is to react violently (etc.) Because then they see you as a threat and therefore swoop again when they see a human, so first impressions mean everything :)
Yes , well I am a little strange, and can regularly be seen talking to the birds as I pass! The maggies always give a little chortle and eye me back.... and I never feel threatened at all. I have also been known to use butcher bird speak at times! They are hilarious when they line up on my fence and start talking to me. I have learned to imitate the very low notes that they give before starting their main call. goodness knows what I say to them but they respond in a very curious way and start looking around to see "who said that!"
You don't' have to be mad to be a bird lover, but it does help I guess :')
Cheers
Birdie
Sunshine Coast Queensland