Bird Encounter #1: Tuesday morning I heard a eery screech and thought little children might be outside playing and making crazy sounds. I went to my living room window and saw this guy “singing.” After hearing him sing, I can now say that I “sing like a bird!” 🙂
Mr. Starling
As the week has progressed, he has stayed on our window sill looking in and singing that awful song while pooping endlessly. His newest trick is to tap dance making yet another horrific sound when his feet tap against the sill. He has also learned to jump and peck on the window between songs. Not only is our wind sill disgusting, but the window is filthy, too. Fortunately, it doesn’t show up in the picture below.
Mr. Starling’s Song-and-Dance Stage
Bird Encounter #2: Monday morning I heard a LOUD BOOM on my dining room window and when I ran outside I saw a robin standing next to the mailbox panting like a dog. He was quite stunned, and it took him a while to get his composure back and fly away. I’m thankful that I didn’t have to give him mouth-to-beak CPR!
Stunned Robin
Bird Encounter #3: One day a few months ago while working out in my basement, I heard a REALLY LOUD BOOM and ran to the window just in time to see a hawk shaking himself off and flying off of our deck. He had flown into either our basement or family room picture window and had fallen onto the deck. I was thrilled he didn’t break the glass!
Red Shouldered Hawk, photo courtesy of my husband
Bird Encounter #4: When my husband and I were first married, I ran past a huge canopied tree near our apartment and around the USU campus. Every morning a bird would dive bomb me as I ran by. When I told Bill, I don’t really think he believed me until one of our friends told us that the exact same thing was happening to him! We think it was a momma bird protecting her nest!
Bird Encounter #5: My in-laws built a beach house in what was a somewhat isolated part of the beach (at the time). On our first visit, a Plover tried to attack us every time we ran or walked by. Again, we think she had a nest nearby!
- Questions:
- Do you have a good close encounter with a bird story to share?
- Have you ever owned a pet bird?
- Do you have hawks in your area?
Ha, that is a LOT of bird encounters!! I don’t think I have any! We did used to own a bird back when I was really little – like 5 or 6 maybe? A cockatiel.
My sons have watched a parakeet while our friends (the owners) go on vacation the last few summers. That’s been my only experience of living with a bird. He sure does wake up happy!
A bird flew in a door to my classroom when I taught in MI. I was a little freaked out that it was inside… After awhile he/she landed on and sat in the fake mini-Christmas tree that my colleague had in our back room. I know he thought something must not be quite right about that tree!
HaHa! That must have been one confused bird! I’m always surprised by the number of birds that “live” in Home DePot and Lowe’s.
No hawks in Singapore; but I grew up in NJ, and we definitely had them there! That’s a fantastic photo that your husband took!
My best bird story…My sister is a scientist, and she did some of her PhD research on birds (how their flying muscles use energy). As I was walking into the building on the afternoon of her defense, I had my very first bird-pooped-on-me experience. It’s like…he knew my sister had been using his brethren for her work, or something – and this was his protest! So strange. [And thankfully, my Mom had a napkin. At the ripe old age of 29, my Mom still provides my napkins!]
No pet birds – but some good friends of mine have some, and after a recent weekend visit, I found myself strangely attached to them! They were actually a lot of fun (and considerably less hairy than cats or dogs).
Once a mom, always a mom!
Holly, you reminded me of a bird story that I had forgotten. When I was at VT, my dorm room was on the first floor and friends would come to my window to meet me if we were going somewhere. One time a date stopped by to pick me up for a concert and a bird pooped on his shirt as he was leaning in the window to see if I was ready to go. He had to go back to his dorm to change before we could go!
Hey, he was quite a gentleman, if he went and changed for you! 🙂
Haha those are some crazy encounters! Sounds like your house is under attack by birds (a little Alfred Hitchcock stuff going on). Hope the windows hold up!
When I was a kid a seagull pooped on my head at the beach 🙂 My grandma stuck my head in the sink in their camper to wash it off!
I think we do have hawks around here. We definitely have larger birds of prey, but I don’t know birds that well.
Have you ever seen those birds that lay their eggs on the ground, and if you get near their nest they’ll dance and make noise and run from the nest to try and distract you? We used to have a few of them on the farm, and they would always lay their eggs in the gravel. I called them “dancing birds” but I’m not sure what they’re actually called.