Got up nice and early today to take my road bike out for a little pedal. The weather was glorious - blue skies, but not too hot, maybe 20 degrees. It was early, around 7am, so traffic wasn’t too bad.
Would have been idyllic if it wasn’t for the 5 different magpies taking offense at my presence during the hour long ride. One of them was particularly persistant, swooping me for a good kilometre or so.
I don’t bear them any ill-will though. They’re just following standard defensive behaviour based on learned experience with other humans. Swooping season last 4-5 weeks typically, which is a tiny fraction of a year, and a bike helmet protects you from most of it.
Plus its a powerful training motivator. Amazing how much faster you pedal with a magpie snapping at your ear! 