What pisses me off: magpies

You know what really pisses me off? Magpies. Don’t even get me started on how awful these creatures are. I call them creatures because it’s almost as if they’re from another world.

Just this last week I have been swooped three times…I have no idea what a 63-year-old woman would want with a baby magpie (the mother assumes I’m stealing its babies I think) but that doesn’t seem to matter! They just swoop away.

When I was still working last year, we had the nastiest magpie just out the front of work. Walking to the front door was an armageddon! I couldn’t walk 50m without being struck in the forehead by this horrible bird and after a while the whole office had gashes and marks from where the vicious beast had attacked. We all ran from our cars with umbrellas in the middle of summer not from fear of sun rays or rain, but to protect ourselves from its razor sharp beak! I went on holidays for a couple of weeks and when I got back, the news was broken – the creature had been run over and could no longer hurt us. It sounds cruel but I was glad the insufferable thing had a fitting demise.

I think something more needs to be done to get manage these insidious birds in our neighbourhoods. Apparently the local council is onto it and Brisbane City Council claims they are “working towards a natural balance as the guiding management principle in the management of nuisance wildlife species including magpies”. Not sure what that really means but let’s just say it’s not effective! Sure, the magpie map that was released the other week by Quest Newspapers is helpful, but there is only one path to the bus. Cull them all, I say! And stop pissing me off!

What do you think about the magpies? Are you being swooped? What should be done about them? Tell us below.

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