I Got Swooped!

In Australia in the springtime, some birds (especially magpies) are known for "swooping." Basically, during the breeding season, the birds want to protect their nests, so they dive bomb toward people's heads. There are stories on the news of certain streets to avoid that have particularly violent birds, and there have actually been injuries because of this.

I guess this swooping thing happens a lot with bikers, so you see some people that have twist tie thingies sticking up from their helmets with the thought that the birds will swoop those instead of their heads (since they swoop the highest thing). People who do this look like ridiculous aliens. Anyway, I digress.

So yesterday when the rain seemed to have stopped, I headed out to grab a few groceries and pick up some dry cleaning. When I got out of Woolworth's, there was a downpour. My hands were full with grocery bags, and I of course hadn't brought my umbrella. So I got soaking wet while walking toward the dry cleaning place. While speeding down the sidewalk, I suddenly felt something hit me. It kind of side-swiped the back left corner of my (wet) head. It didn't hurt, but it surprised me. I looked up, and a squawking bird was perched on the wire above me just staring at me. I realized I had been swooped!

This is something that Zack and I joke about every time we see a magpie. "Watch out; you'll get swooped," we say, but we never thought it would actually happen. The bird that swooped me wasn't a magpie though. From what I can tell from my internet searching, I think it was a myna, which can also be spelled mynah, which may come from the word "miner" said with an Australian accent.

Anyway, who cares? The darn bird, whatever it's called, swooped me! It did another swoop down toward me, squawking the whole time, but it didn't hit me the second time. I got a little scared then (I didn't want my brains pecked out!), so I started walking in the street, and it seemed to leave me alone.

Part of me wonders if I was especially vulnerable because my wet hair looked like a nest? Check out the embarrassingly lovely picture below to see what I mean! So yeah, I've been swooped. Does this make me officially Australian?

Soaked and Swooped