Magpie ambush on campus: CCU weathers spate of Taiwan blue magpie attacks

Taiwan blue magpies are causing consternation at Chinese Culture University, where aggressive magpie attacks are a daily hazard for staff and students alike. This endemic species is only aggressive in an effort to protect its young, which hatch at this time of year. But for campus regulars, avoiding aerial ambush has become a new job.

A blue magpie sits in a tree, tilting her head back and forth, cute as a cupcake – until she decides to strike.

Suddenly she swoops down, talons outstretched, at someone’s head. This kind of ambush is now a part of life at Chinese Culture University.

Lin Ching
FTV reporter
Here I am at the exact spot where the ambush took place, beside the Baihua百花 pond in Chinese Culture University. See how many magpies’ nests there are in the tree behind me, and magpies flying around nearby. Recently many CCU students have experienced these attacks.

Chinese Culture University student
I was just walking by, up there, and then suddenly it flew down. It felt my head got hit. I thought a fruit had fallen from the tree, but then I saw it was a magpie. Perhaps it thought my head was a nest.

Chinese Culture University teacher
I had just taken a photo and was about to leave, when suddenly I felt something tear at my scalp. I was being attacked. When you read it in the paper in the morning it sounds so cute. When it’s you being attacked, it’s not cute.

April to August is the breeding season for the Taiwan blue magpie. Mother birds may attack disturbers to protect their young. That’s why they got the nickname “Taiwan Angry Birds.”

Wang Hsiang-yu
Chinese Culture University professor
It’s probably because the chicks have hatched, so they are trying to protect their nest. So the magpies have attacked many students walking past below. The way it attacks is to swoop down, then jerk upward and grab the person’s head.

The victims of such attacks are understandably shocked. But bird experts have urged people not to take an eye for an eye. Damaging birds’ nests or driving them away is an infringement of animal protection law, incurring fines of NT$60,000 and up.

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