We are encouraging residents to take care in outdoor areas where swooping native birds
may be active.
Breeding season for native birds has begun and is expected to continue until
the middle of November.
Many native birds, such as magpies and masked lapwings (also known as
spur-winged plovers), seek to protect their eggs and young during breeding
season by swooping.
Community members can minimise the risk of being swooped by avoiding nesting
areas where birds are swooping where possible, or protecting the head and eyes
and moving through the area quickly.
Residents are advised to contact our Customer Service team on 03 5272 5272 to
report a bird swooping on City of Greater Geelong-managed land.
We will place warning signs at the site and assess the behaviour of the bird.
All native birds are protected under the Wildlife Act 1975, so please do not
harm or scare swooping birds, or interfere with their nests.
Councillor Elise Wilkinson, deputy chair of the Council’s Environment and
Circular Economy portfolio:
Swooping birds are likely to be found across
urban and rural areas.
Native birds are an important part of our natural environment and are rightly
afforded legal protection.
We should all be aware of potential swooping risks and prepared to modify our
behaviour outdoors when needed.
By doing simple things such as protecting our head and either avoiding or
moving through a breeding area quickly, we can reduce our chances of being
swooped.
While swooping birds can be alarming, the behaviour is confined to
approximately 10 per cent of birds and it’s rare for a bird to cause an injury.
Each breeding pair will normally swoop for four to six weeks until their chicks
can fly.
The Victorian Government’s
Swooping Bird Map shows hot spots where people
have been swooped during the current or previous breeding season.