This bird doesn't like me

I live close to work. Walking-distance close.

On my twice-daily walk between home & the office, I take this cute little bike path. The problem is that there's a bird guarding the path. This bird that wants to kill me. Today the bird swooped by my head twice, brushing by my hair on the second pass. It caws and hisses and that 8 inch bird manages to bring fear into the soul of this five-foot-eight man.

It goes so fast and it gets me really upset! I wasn't trying to steal the birds babies or anything! I was just walking on the path. Why does the bird feel threatened by my presence? I come in peace!

So I'll weigh my options:

Kill the bird tomorrow. Poisoning it would be fairly simple and mostly nonviolent.

Start wearing a helmet to work.

Find a different route to work. But I am so lazy and the shortest distance between two points is in through the scary bird place!

I think I'm going to be conservative on this one and start with just a baseball cap. Wish me luck!