The bush capital's swooping harbingers of spring are upon us and the ACT Government is warning residents to be aware of the black-and-white menace from above.
And while plenty of new magpie warning signs have been erected around nest-worthy suburbs, they weren't enough to save Erica Laurente from one particularly aggressive bird in Palmerston yesterday.
SWOOP: The series of photographs showing the magpie swoop
As Ms Laurente walked her dog Muskat near the corner of Tinderry Circuit and Kosciuszko Avenue, Canberra Times, photographer Graham Tidy captured the precise second when the magpie attacked and yanked at the 22-year-old's hair.
Ms Laurente said she didn't even see the magpie coming.
''I didn't know what was going on until after I felt it hit,'' she said, vowing to take Muskat along a different route from now on.
''The signs are pretty small and could probably do with some colour, maybe a warning in red,'' she said.
The nest of the feisty Palmerston magpie is already ringed by no less than six signs. A spokeswoman for the adjacent Palmerston Primary School said the magpie had a nasty reputation and had been plaguing the area for years.
ACT Parks and Reserves ranger Nadia Kuzmanoski said the looming six-week breeding season would see an increase in magpie territorial behaviour. ''Not all magpies are threatened by people, only some will swoop. It is important not to aggravate magpies or retaliate as they can become more aggressive if irritated,'' she said yesterday.
Only one in 10 magpies, usually males, engaged in swooping behaviour.
''Magpies are an important part of the Canberra environment and for most of the year they are good neighbours,'' Ms Kuzmanoski said.
The Department of Territory and Municipal Services has issued a list of counter-measures to avoid being swooped, including attaching a flag or streamers on a stick to a backpack or bike.
A TAMS spokeswoman also warned that harming native birds was an offence under the Nature Conservation Act 1980.
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