Every weekday morning, my son and I walk to school crossing a few fields and ovals as
we go.
We see many Australian birds during our travels – Magpies, Crows, Ravens, Crested Pigeons,
Galahs, Cockatoos, Butcherbirds, Sparrows, Kookaburras, Swallows, Peewees, Noisy Miners,
Currawongs, Lorikeets, Wattlebirds, Finches, Doves, Wrens, Ibis, and Willie Wagtails.
I’ve been slowly teaching him all the names as well as learning a few myself.
But the bird that has most grabbed our attention recently is the Masked Lapwing, commonly known
as the Plover.
At first, we found plovers to be fairly aggressive.
They often swooped us as we walked past.
Magpies weren’t innocent either – they’d attack us on sight.
The local council actually put up signs in areas where swooping birds nest warning passing
pedestrians.
However, over the last few months or so, all the birds have stopped attacking us.
At first, I thought maybe the breeding season was over, but then we saw other people being
attacked as we walked by.
My wife was walking to school with us one day (normally, she stays at home with my daughter)
and we were crossing one of our regular fields and then suddenly one of the plovers started
swooping us.
They weren’t interested in my son and I, just my wife.
After living in Australia for a number of years, my wife now has a phobia of birds.
She’s originally from urban China and so never had to deal with very many animals during
her childhood.
But now that she is in Australia, even though we’re living in a fairly urban environment,
she has been forced to contend with aggressive avians.
So back to the plover anecdote, the plover started swooping my wife.
Her fist reaction was to run, but you can’t exactly outrun a flying bird.
As it got closer to her, she ducked her head down smashing her face into the pram she was
pushing and busted her lip open.
The bird was never intending on striking her – it was only giving her a warning.
The funniest part was after the assault.
The bird just stood there looking at my wife, quite pleased with itself that it had taken
care of the threat.
That event got me thinking.
It’s almost as if the birds recognise my son and I and have decided that we are not
a threat.
We walk past four or five mated pairs of plovers in the morning, and none of them ever attack
us anymore.
They sometimes give us their warning calls – just to let us know that they are there
– but never threaten us in any way.
Strangely, other pedestrians often get swooped.
One of my son’s classmate’s mother was asking me how we could possibly walk to school.
She tried it one day but was attacked multiple times by a various assortment of birds.
I told her that I had read something on the ABC a while ago indicating that magpies actually
have very good memories and can form friendly relationships with people.
(Actually, I just tracked down the article and posted the link below).
I presume that other birds can do the same, so that might explain why my son and I are
never attacked anymore.
We’ve become so friendly with the local plover population that we literally got within
a couple of metres of one of their nests.
Just for your information, plovers are a ground-dwelling bird who spend most of their days walking
around on fields looking for insects and grubs to eat.
They usually build their nests out in the open at ground level, despite the obvious
risks involved.
Luckily for them, the local council are very aware of their presence and intentionally
don’t mow over their nests, even though the nests are quite hard to spot from a distance.
Anyway, as we were walking across one of the fields, we stumbled upon one of the plovers’
nests.
My son asked what the two camouflaged-looking balls were and I told him that they must be
the plovers’ eggs.
The two plovers were both present standing about 20 metres away from of us, but they
didn’t do anything except give us a few warning calls.
We had a quick look at the nest and then moved on.
It was such an amazing experience.
A few months earlier, there would have been no way that they would have allowed us to
get that close.
A few days ago, we were walking past the same area looking for the eggs, and then we couldn’t
believe what we saw.
There were two little plovers walking about with their parents, happy as Larry.
Both my son and I felt so grateful that we were able to witness such an amazing event.
Only one day earlier, they were just eggs basking in the sun.
The very next day, the eggs had hatched and a couple of cute little plovers were walking
around pecking at the ground.
It was almost as if the adult plovers had let us into their lives.
We know of three or four other plover families and they’re all fairly friendly towards
us.
The only time they were aggressive was when my wife and daughter were with us.
My wife gets very anxious when she’s around them and it’s almost as if the birds can
sense her fear and panic, and consequently, they attack.
Anyway, that’s my little bird story that’s really an ongoing event.
Every morning we get to experience all the different bird calls, the chirps, the screeches;
the swallows flying around us in circles, almost as if they’re playing a game with
us; the galahs feeding on the grass in the early sun; the magpies pacing the open areas
looking for grubs; and the plovers strutting about on the fields protecting, teaching,
and guiding their newborn chicks.