Magpies can be pretty great dads.
Despite being faced with the possibility of being separated from their family by humans for being protective of their nests during breeding season, those that are shafted can rest assured another male will quickly take his place and care for his young better than he ever did.
![Swooping magpies are devoted dads keen to protect their young from predators.](/web/20160918131900im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/r/j/o/k/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grgz9m.png/1473978711242.jpg)
Griffith University behavioural ecologist professor Darryl Jones and a small team worked that out in the 1990s, after they were called in by parks and wildlife services to come up with a better solution to fix the swooping magpie problem that plagued Queensland every year.
The method back then was simply to shoot them.
![The EHP allow for a relocation process where swooping magpies pose a direct threat to groups of young or old or have the ...](/web/20160918131900im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/g/r/1/0/k/o/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.grgz9m.png/1473978711242.jpg)
"Years ago, in the '90s, parks and wildlife services did what everyone did, they would either go out themselves or commonly get local police to shoot it," he said.
"That was all that ever happened and that was standard practice but as it continued on it became completely crazy to shoot at a magpie in the suburbs."
Professor Jones and his team set to work to come up with a better solution and, over the course of seven years, they managed every swooping magpie complaint from Maryborough to the Gold Coast.
"People would ring up and a person would take down information and that was sent via fax to us," he said.
"We would have a ridiculous number of them (complaints) every day."
To manage numbers, the team would only respond to swooping magpie complaints that were near groups of old or young people or had caused injury.
While most times the situation could be solved through preventive measures, such as awareness of nests or protective clothing, sometimes the birds had to be removed from the area.
Professor Jones said catching the magpies was the easiest part of the relocation process.
"You get one magpie, he goes into a small cage and if you put that in the territory of any magpie in the world, the locals will come down to try and beat the crap out of it," he said.
"So we put the small cage in big cage with a funnel entrance (to catch the bird).
"The magpies would come down and take no notice of us but want to beat the poor magpie in the cage.
"They would go into funnel and they would be caught, it took minutes to catch them."
The problem then arose what to do with the magpie once it was caught.
"We turned it into really serious scientific study," Professor Jones said.
"We found out that if we let the bird go less than 36 kilometres away, we did this hundreds of times, they will come straight back, before you even get back.
"So we took them to a habitat suitable for the magpies, more than 80 kilometres away - mostly to farm country outside Brisbane.
"Those magpies would try and find their way home, would get lost, but would then set up new family elsewhere and not be aggressive again."
However the real surprise came when his team observed what happened back at the nest once the aggressive male was taken away.
"When we removed the dad, the mum was stuck with four starving kids," he said.
"We found a new male moved in instantly, many of the times we would have the (aggressive) male in a cage on the back of the truck and meanwhile a new male would come along and court the female straight away.
"She would say you are black and white, you'll do, and he would settle in straight away."
The new dads did not take their responsibility lightly and often care for the chicks better than their biological father.
"What was truly astounding, he (the new father) would feed them at a higher rate than the real dad," Professor Jones said.
"He was looking for this opportunity his whole life.
"To convince the female they are worth keeping on, they say I will do anything you like if you let me hang around."
And that is how the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection's current magpie relocation program came into existence.
Queensland Fauna Consultancy suburban wildlife manager Lana Field, who has an EHP permit to relocate wildlife, relocates magpies from Brisbane's western suburbs and often refers to Professor Jones research to help relocate up to 15 magpies a year.
"We get asked (to relocate) and then we make an assessment and then we sort of go from there," she said.
"(Whether the birds are relocated) depends on the severity of the contact.
"Even if a bird is not making severe contact, if the swooping motion could put cyclists in dangerous situations on a main road or highway then we look at that as well.
"Usually we can get out and assess within a day or two, as long as we have enough information."
Ms Field said they require nest locations and a photo before they head out, because a lot of people tend to mix up bird species.
"A lot of people assume butcherbirds are just small magpies and a lot of people don't know about peewees either," she said.
"Those different bird species are a different approach altogether."
The cost of relocation falls on the shoulders of the owners of the property, if on private land or on the local council, if on public land.
How you can protect yourself from magpies swooping:
- Stay more than 110 metres from a nest if you're on foot; or 150 metres away if you're on a bike
- Find out where magpie breeding areas are
- Wear a hat or sunglasses or hold something above your head
- If cycling, get off your bike and walk.
- 'Spike' your helmet with cable ties or draw large eyes on the back of your helmet
- Walk in a group
- Watch the magpies, they are less likely to swoop when being watched
- Do not approach baby magpies
- If swooping becomes dangerous, contact an EHP-approved magpie relocator.
Magpie fast facts:
- Magpies breed and raise their young between July and November each year
- Males will swoop within a certain distance, known as the "defence zone"
- Defensive behaviour can last up to eight weeks
- Not all magpies will swoop humans - some only target pedestrians or cyclists based on past experiences
- All native birds are protected under the Nature Conservation Act 1992
- Studies show survival rate for chicks is about 14 per cent under good conditions
- Clutch size is usually 3-4 eggs
- Statistically only 3 per cent of the entire population of magpies exhibit swooping with contact as a defensive behaviour
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