Monochrome rain of death from above

I was minding my own business going for my morning run in the park the other day listening to some octane fuelled rock band on my IPod. I do this to keep my motivation up and also generally leaves me lost in my own thoughts.

Suddenly I felt a smack to the back of the head. Picking my headphones back up again I quickly looked around at what might have mercilessly attacked me with no provocation what so ever. I thought perhaps somebody had carelessly thrown a ball or Frisbee. However to my surprise I saw a magpie fluttering about just above me in what I can only describe as some sort of victory dance.

Apparently spring for the Australian magpie is the nesting season and anything (especially humans) that gets too close to their nesting tree gets ‘swooped’ as some rudimentary protection method. 

Their modus operandi is to lay in weight high in the branches above until some unsuspecting pedestrian or cyclist happen by. Using the forces of both gravity and flight they swoop down from behind (always from behind) with great speed and clip you in the back of the head.

That’s what I call Mother Nature giving you the bird.

Daz