Ian Mosby was jogging through Riverdale Park on Tuesday morning when he was ambushed.

The assailant swooped down on him near the bottom of the footbridge spanning the Don River.

“I felt something grab my hat, and I heard the flutter of wings,” he said. “I felt it again and I turned around and there was a blackbird there, and it kept circling my head until I was out of its range. It was bizarre.”

He had unknowingly encroached on the territory of a male red-winged blackbird. The bird attacked him again on his way back and dive-bombed two other joggers and an unsuspecting cyclist.

He tried to warn other pedestrians about the danger ahead. “I told everyone who was coming, 'There’s this bird. It’s going to attack,' and I don’t think anyone believed me.”

Mosby, a post-doctoral fellow in history at McMaster, isn’t the only one in the city to have fallen prey to a red-winged blackbird recently. The same day, a user on the online social forum Reddit wrote he was attacked by the same species of bird on the West Railpath.

“Horrified, I (ran) away like a little girl,” he said.

In Ottawa last week, a red-winged blackbird was caught on video guarding Parliament Hill and pouncing on passersby. The “Parliament Hill Bird” has since reappeared on Twitter.

Justin Peter, communications director at the Toronto Ornithological Club, said most male red-winged blackbirds won’t attack humans, but some may be especially aggressive now because it is their breeding season. The female, which can be recognized by its streaky brown plumage, is “more low-key and doesn’t attack,” he said.

“Generally from what I’ve seen (the males) strike people on the top or back of the head,” he said. “They’re being careful not to put themselves in harm’s way, to deliver the maximum blow with the least risk to themselves.”

Red-winged blackbirds are one of the most abundant species of bird in North America and typically nest in marshy areas and near water, he said. In Toronto, he said one could expect to find them near the lakeshore and in High Park.

Blackbirds will also attack other potential predators such as crows, great blue herons and red-tailed hawks.

He warned that Torontonians won’t be safe for two to four weeks, until the birds’ offspring leave the nest.

In the meantime, he suggested keeping your eyes on the skies.

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“Be aware of the sounds around you, and if you see a bird flying overhead, best remove yourself from that situation as soon as you can,” he said.

Mosby says he has learned his lesson. “I’ll keep my eyes out for a red-winged blackbird with a menacing look on its face. That’s about all you can do.”