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Sunrise host Natalie Barr was left stunned on Tuesday morning after a guest’s wild segment.
Bird expert and wildlife ecologist Dr Grainne Cleary appeared on the show to share advice on how to avoid being swooped during magpie swooping season across Australia.
Cleary’s appearance comes after a Melbourne dad was swooped and needed specialised surgery to save his eyesight.
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Explaining how to get out of a swooping encounter, she passionately told Nat that you “can’t outfly a magpie”.
“If you find yourself in an area with magpies, don’t antagonise the bird. Respect the bird! Get off your bike and walk slowly through the area, give it a bit of space,” Cleary said.
“Don’t think you can cycle faster than the magpie because you can’t and you’re just going to annoy it!” she urged.
Nat laughed, remarking, “There’s a warning!”
Continuing her discussion, Cleary urged people to not “look suspicious”.
“Don’t go waving your hands madly. Walk slowly but purposefully through the area. Put your hands (over your head) and just walk,” she said, putting her hands to her head, elbows in front of her face.
Nat couldn’t contain her laughter as she said that if a bird was attacking her, “I’m going to be waving my arms around … how can I calmly walk through?”
“You need to be one with the birds,” the expert said in a meditation stance.
“The worst thing you can do is go, ‘Get away from me!’” she screamed, flapping her hands in the air.
Nat interjected, “But that is what everyone is going to do.”
Cleary then showed viewers once more the correct way to cope with a swooping magpie.
She was seen getting into the “protective position” which involves covering her head with her hands, while saying: “Sorry Mr Magpie! I’ll walk on … Sorry.”
“Less than 10 per cent of magpies swoop and it’s always the male,” she went on.
“It’s a defence that birds use when they feel trapped but they don’t want to make contact with you, it’s just a warning.
“You would really have to annoy them for them to actually make contact. A lot of the time it’s just a bluff.
“But if you go ‘Ahh’ the bird goes ‘Ahh’,” Cleary screamed.
Unable to control her laughter, Nat replied: “It would absolutely be me” – suggesting she would be screaming at the swooping bird.
“Thank you very much, I will try and do exactly what you say,” Nat added.
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