From Newsgroup: uk.rec.cycling
Beware! Crows are finding new targets in Dulwich and cyclists are at the
top of the list
If keeping yourself safe from dangerous drivers on the road didn't seem
like a hard enough task for you, it looks like crows are also now on
cyclists' back.
Dashcam footage shared by DeTours360 shows two crows swoop down and attack
a cyclist in Townley Road, Dulwich yesterday. Not just once, not just
twice, but at least a total of three times. The video was reposted by
Dulwich Roads, saying: "The crows are back again this year and attacking cyclists and pedestrians at the junction of Beauval Rd and Townley."
I've always been a bit perked by birds, and watching Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds in my teenage years only deepened that paranoia and fear of a shady
cabal of birds conniving and threatening to push humanity back into the
dark ages...
My irrational fear-mongering aside, cyclists being attacked by birds is
really nothing new, and going back in the road.cc archives of bird attacks,
my fear seems to have only been elevated, as this instance of a crow
attacking a cyclist in a bizarre encounter in Vancouver that left marks on
the man's knuckle illustrates.
Or the series of magpie attacks in Australia, with a behavioural ecologist ringing some alarming bells by saying that they remember their victims, and
may even come back at you for more.
rCLIf they think yourCOre a threat, they will follow you and attack you for years," ecologist Darryl Jones said. "If yourCOve been attacked in the past, yourCOll probably get attacked in the future."
Jon Clark, the creator of Magpie Alert, a webiste that Australian cyclists
can use to track aggressive magpies in their area, said; "If you want to go
for a walk or cycle, check the website first to see if they are swooping in
the area and then just change your route."
Well that doesn't sound very proactive does it? But turning back the pages
and having a look back at the strategy deployed by an Aussie cyclist in
2021 may be of use here. Paul Heymans, head of the Brisbane Valley Rail
Trail Users Association had said that using cheap, gardening bird scarer
tape on your helmet can result in fewer attacks.
"I happened to notice that the magpies that used to attack me were actually avoiding me," he said. "It's not 100 per cent effective... I reckon it's
about 85 per cent effective, but it does work."
I wouldn't worry too much about the scientificity of the percentages here,
but I do sense a potential for opening the doors to a helmet debate here
(we haven't had one in a while, have we?)... I'll leave you all to discuss.
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https://road.cc/content/news/cycling-live-blog-24-may-2024-308513#live-blog-item-58033>
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Spike
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