Thursday, September 5, 2013

Protecting Magpies

Spring has sprung and the first warnings of the Canberra Magpie swooping season have started to emerge. A search of the Trove archives in relation to our sometimes nemesis of feathered friends and Canberra reveal hundreds of results as Canberrans struggled with the yearly aerial bird bombardment.

This 75 year old article is fairly representative of articles in the early days of Canberra. I will note a great deal of mention was usually made of the Canberra Golf Club where it was particularly dangerous in regard Magpies apparently however this article describes Canberra as a Magpie's paradise and sums up the dilemma of residents as they struggled with the concept of not killing them as pests.

p.s I believe there are only four species of Australian Magpies...

The Horsham Times (Vic.) Friday 5 August 1938


National Library of Australia


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2 comments:

  1. KeithSeptember 7, 2013 at 7:40 AM

    I don't recall ever having been swooped on by a magpie in the forest, maybe it is just in built up areas.
    Keith.

    ReplyDelete
  2. David R. ReidSeptember 7, 2013 at 9:33 AM

    Come to think of it that's true Keith. Very much urban areas around here too. Its just a regular 3 week inconvenience :)

    ReplyDelete

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