On an off-road path near the Brisbane Airport, the Guardian of Viola Place lurks.

For people who ride along Lomandra Drive or Viola Place, it’s a known hotspot for a defensive magpie, with several cyclists swooped since the start of this year’s breeding season, and one person falling from their bike.

And as the season begins, figures from Brisbane City Council reveal the worst suburbs so far for swooping birds are Forest Lake, Wakerley, Carindale, Oxley and Bald Hill.

Chris Cox being swooped by the Guardian of Viola Place in September 2024.

Mitch Bright, from Space 4 Cycling, said he had ridden through the Lomandra Drive area a few times in the past month and had been swooped by “the Guardian”.

“But riding through there on the weekend just gone, the magpie was absent, and I don’t know

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