I'm lucky to be alive ..after magpie attack

Bird swoop causes horror crash

- PATRICK HILL

A CYCLIST suffered a cracked cheekbone and other injuries after a swooping magpie knocked her off her bike.

Marcela Montalva, 30, said: "I was suddenly attacked by a magpie, lost control of the bicycle and fell hard on the road, hitting the left side of my face on the concrete."

She says she blacked out and woke up in a medical unit near where she was cycling in Ravenswood, in the Australian outback, earlier this month.