Swooping Magpies...

This morning my husband and I went for our daily morning walk. We had found this lovely path through a park that takes us just under an hour to walk, but since we had heavy rainfall last night and high winds, I was weary of walking through the park. I said why don't we just walk the street instead of going into the park. As we were going down Eighth Avenue a car was backing out of it's driveway so my husband motioned me to cross the street, (there are no sidewalks here so we have to walk in the street) all of a sudden a magpie comes flying high speed and hits my husband in the face, it happened so fast I don't know how it got him with it's beak, but he was bleeding, we cut our walk short and decided we'll be staying away from Eighth Avenue till at least November. A guy that lives across the street from the stupid bird said he sees it swoop on many people, even him, he walks out of his house with an open umbrella to avoid getting attacked.  So I've decided to write about these annoying birds. 
Australian Magpies are a fairly robust bird ranging from 37 to 43 cm (14.5–17 in) in length, with distinctive black and white plumage, gold brown eyes and a solid wedge-shaped bluish-white and black bill. The male and female are similar in appearance, and can be distinguished by differences in back markings. With its long legs, the Australian Magpie walks rather than waddles or hops and spends much time on the ground.  . I've seen them take their time crossing roads, it's almost like, you wanna hit me? so hit me! In your face sort of mentality coming from a bird. Spring in Australia is magpie season, when a small minority of breeding magpies (almost always males) around the country become aggressive and swoop and attack those who approach their nests, especially bike riders. This species is commonly fed by households around the country and is the mascot of several Australian sporting teams.
One of Australia's most highly regarded songbirds, the Australian Magpie has a wide variety of calls, many of which are complex. Pitch may vary over up to four octaves, and the bird can mimic over 35 species of native and introduced bird species, as well as dogs and horses. Magpies have even been noted to mimic human speech when living in close proximity to humans. Its complex, musical, warbling call is one of the most familiar Australian bird sounds. In Denis Glover's poem The Magpies, the mature magpie's call is described as quardle oodle ardle wardle doodle, one of the most famous lines in New Zealand poetry, and in the children's book Waddle Giggle Gargle by Pamela Allen.
Magpies are ubiquitous in urban areas all over Australia, and have become accustomed to people. A small percentage of birds become highly aggressive during breeding season from late August to early October, and will swoop and sometimes attack passersby. The percentage has been difficult to estimate but is significantly less than 9%. Almost all attacking birds (around 99%) are male,and they are generally known to attack pedestrians at around 50 m (150 ft) from their nest, and cyclists at around 100 m (300 ft). Attacks begin as the eggs hatch, increase in frequency and severity as the chicks grow, and tail off as the chicks leave the nest.
These magpies may engage in an escalating series of behaviours to drive off intruders. Least threatening are alarm calls and distant swoops, where birds fly within several metres from behind and perch nearby. Next in intensity are close swoops, where a magpie will swoop in from behind or the side and audibly "snap" their beaks or even peck or bite at the face, neck, ears or eyes. More rarely, a bird may dive-bomb and strike the intruder's (usually a cyclist's) head with its chest. A magpie may rarely attack by landing on the ground in front of a person and lurching up and landing on the victim's chest and peck at the face and eyes. Scary shit to be attacked by a bird.