“All these birds are doing the same thing, pretty much. They’re trying to keep what they regard as a threat away from their chicks in the nest. That’s what the magpies are doing, they’re just doing it in a particularly spectacular way.”

Urban ecologist Darryl Jones stresses that it’s important not to antagonise swooping birds that are only defending their nest. Source: Supplied / Darryl Jones

From the shriek of the thorn-studded masked lapwing to the colonies of noisy miners, here are the lesser-known culprits of swooping and how to identify them.

Miners v mynas

“They’re continuously hassling everything; it must drive the other birds mad. Have you ever seen a kookaburra sitting there and these things buzzing around them like mosquitoes?”

The noisy miners travel in packs and breed in colonies, meaning there’s plenty of miners prepared to defend their nests. Source: Getty / Universal Image Group

Jones said that noisy miners are the most common non-magpie bird that practices swooping. This is because they breed in colonies, and it’s the community that raises the chicks, meaning there are always miners ready and available to ward off potential threats.

Jones said that while Indian mynas are as “stroppy” as their grey counterparts, their preference for the ground means they don’t swoop.

The shrieking plover

Placing their nests on the ground means that masked lapwings are always alert to threats because the nests are “very vulnerable”.

“They never hit, they just do it to scare you.”

Swooping with intent

Butcherbirds are similar in appearance to magpies, with black hoods and a white collar.

The butcherbird is an aggressive swooper that can cause injuries, but the incidence of swooping is much rarer than magpies. Source: AAP / Mary Evans

“They’re much harder to deal with. Magpies are easy to catch, but butcherbirds are too smart for that.”

“They’re the abundant birds that have lost their fear of us.”

Are you being personally attacked by birds?

“Not only that, he was the only person who got attacked. And years later, when he went back to the same site, he got attacked again.”