We have a blackbird defending a nest outside my balcony right now. I hate him. We now have to go the long way around the building to get out the gate, because he swoops at your head and it hurts and it’s scary. Then heaven FORBID I sit on my own balcony! The constant swooping and squawking is ridiculous. That guy is such an asshole.
My high school history teacher had a story about a celebrity (I want to say Micheal Jackson but, to be honest, I don’t remember the name) who got attacked by a bunch of crows at a golf course. I think they were reacting to said celebrity scaring off another crow.
I think there might be something about being bald that some birds don’t like. There was this blue jay that lived near our house. For some reason this bird hated my dad. Every night when dad got home from work this crazy jay would dive bomb him. After recieving a pretty good gash to the top of his bald head dad started wearing a hat. The bird never bothered him again.
In the Chicago suburbs, especially the NW Suburbs they have a lot of corporate parks, which usually have ponds which means Canada Geese. And sometimes swans too. Those are really known for attacking people. Especially at nesting time.
My friend’s mother got attacked by a swan. She said it pushed her down and beat her with its wings. While I somehow doubt the swan pushed her down, I can see it attacking her.
I see attacking birds but it’s normally cats they attack. I’ve saved many a cat from being dive bombed by birds, especially Blue Jays which seem to do it for fun.
One of my brothers works in downtown SF, and I emailed him yesterday about “Swoops” - sure enough, he’d heard of him and has even seen him … and his relatives! 
There are, apparently, more birds than just Swoops protecting nests in that area. Or maybe in SF in general. LOL I don’t think Swoops has gotten my brother, though, because his offices recently moved and they are no longer in Swoops territory.
There’s a simple trick to dealing with divebombing birds. Grab a stick or some similar longish object and hold it up over your head. The birds will adjust their attacks to the tallest point on your “body”. You may still have to worry about the … bombs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPihMK_XZNw (swan attack)
Here in Santa Cruz we get attacking Brewers Blackbirds every year around this time. Jerks. They try to attack from the back, so if you turn your head to keep your eyes on them, they’ll just fly around without striking…
…and then laugh as you stumble into traffic cuz you ain’t looking where you’re going.
The old trick in Sydney is to take a plastic ice-cream container and paint a pair of eyes on each of the four sides. It works, too.
I’ve also used the tennis racket - magpies nesting in a gum tree by the mailbox. It works surprisingly well, actually.
Funniest thing I saw about 10 years ago.
At the Magic Kingdom back near the old 20,000 Leauges Under The Sea ride there is an ice cream cone stand. And a lot of birds hang out there to go after dropped food. A man is walking with his just bought cone, a bird swoops at him, he freaks and “plop” drops his cone on the asphalt.
But that wasn’t the funny part. The funny part was that the guy suddenly clenches his fists and teeth, turns beet red, and runs at any bird that is near flailing his arms wildly screaming at the top of his lungs “ARGHHEERAGHRHH!!!”
Everyone just looked at him like he was insane.
Has Swoops moved to the Tacoma area? I recently walked through a Tacoma neighborhood and they had a sign saying “watch out for diving crows (they’re trying to protect their nests)”. Then when walking to work last week in Tacoma groups of crows on utility wires seemed to be chasing me. I had to yell them off. And when I was in downtown Seattle (7th & Pike) I was brushed on the head by a murder of crows!
I’ve met people who claim they were chased for 3 blocks by a hummingbird. For something the size of a peanut hummers are a bit aggressive–I’ve even watched them chase hawks.
However, they don’t seem to know what to do if something doesn’t run or fly. I saw one trying to harass a group of goldfinches once, and they just stared at him, then went back to eating. He sat down and waited, possibly hoping that when they moved to another food source he could pretend he was chasing them.
When I first read this thread this had never happened to me. Just in the last few days though, a bird right near my apartment (in the sunset district) has taken to dive bombing me whenever I walk by. He’s done it three times now. Of course, he’ll only do it as a sneak attack. As soon as I start keeping an eye on him, he just hops around following me waiting for me to turn around or leave his territory. Stupid bird.
funny… same thing is happening outside my apartment building.
A small black bird is attacking pedestrians. I’ve seen it twice in the last week. It even chased one poor girl across the street pecking her the entire time.
Yes, birds are starting to act up. A sign of the apocalypse I suppose. They’re crapping on my car quite a bit. An act of defiance? I’ve actually seen’em at it. They look at theirselves in my reviews for a bit and then they crap on my car! This is a fairly recent phenonmenon so I’m contributing it to the apocalypse. Damn birds!