Angry Birds!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Our house is under attack.  I can’t say for sure how many attackers are out there, but I am fairly certain there are at least two angry birds involved.  I am pretty sure I could identify them in a lineup, although one cardinal looks the same to me as another.  I just know that two of them would have ruffled feathers and blockheads. Every year, for as long as we have lived in this house, we have had one or two angry birds banging on our windows and it has got to stop.  A couple of years ago a crazy red bird spent half the day attacking our living room window. He would watch the window from a nearby branch and then charge it and go back to his branch. This would happen over and over again.  I tried lowering the blinds, raising the blinds, bird decals, shouting for him to knock it off, and banging on the window. 

My daughter has been complaining for years about a bird doing the same thing at her bedroom window, but since if didn’t affect her father or me we really didn’t care.  I guess all those years of telling her to suffer in silence have now come back to haunt us, because this year the bird made it personal when he started banging on our bathroom window. 

 

This has been a bad month for birds at our house.  The geese came home early from their winter vacation and are back to dropping presents at the park on every walkway, pier, dock, and roadway in sight.  Trying to get pictures of my dogs on the pier running is virtually impossible now since they stop every few feet to dine on goose caviar.  In between screaming for them to “leave it” and trying to settle my churning stomach, I don’t much like geese anymore.  In fact, if they had a Goose Bingo Party up at the lake and the winners got to pick off one or two geese, I would be first in line with my bingo daubers and smile. 

I think it is also one Bingo I could get John to attend with me, although he might be game for groundhog Bingo in the spring.  It isn’t that I don’t appreciate wildlife, but when the main contribution of a bird or animal is to produce enough poop to make my life a living hell then it is time to say bye-bye to that species. 

 

And now I have a head banging cardinal waking me up every morning because he obviously thinks his reflection is another bird.  I am using he because in the past it has always been the male bird banging away, however this year it seems to be a female.  I don’t want to start a cardinal debacle, but the color of the bird and the markings look female to me, although I see the male cardinal watching her and I just know he is involved somehow. 

Maybe she lost a bet and has to take over for him for a while until he has recovered from his concussion.  It’s your turn to attack the window, because we had that bet about the titmouse getting his second or third FUI.  I have to give kudos to the bird’s superior eyesight though, because if she can see anything resembling another bird in my dirty windows her vision must be 20/20. It is a shame, however, that I can’t say the same about this bird’s intelligence.   I put her somewhere between idiot and nincompoop. As I write, the bird is banging away. It goes on all day.  At some point, it seems to me the bird would reassess the situation and come to the conclusion that the bird she keeps attacking looks as dazed and confused as she must feel and reminds her of someone she has seen before. It almost reminds me of the time our daughter came home from school and told us a long story about a friend that got in trouble and John said, “When you look in the mirror do you see your friend?”

 

Fortunately for the bird, the tapping does not seem to bother Fudge or Vern.  It is one of the few sounds Vern does not react to in our house, otherwise I would have a tapping bird and a barking dog in a face off every day.  Unfortunately for the bird, it does bother the humans that live here and I think angry humans will prevail in this situation over angry birds. 

The tree the bird seems to be guarding is our Charlie Brown Christmas tree at best.  It seems to me that this bird could take her and her friends next door to the neighbor’s house where the trees are prettier and the windows are cleaner.  If she can see a bird in our window surely she can read the sign I plan on posting today that reads, “All birds welcome and free birdseed at the Flamingo Hotel located next door.”  I think that should do it!

[Carol and Banjo]

LOL at Donna's Protesting Cardinal!!!! Laurie, I sympathize with you...we have Robins attacking our front window and back door patio glass.......and they're up and at it way too early!!!

[Lynda Kamrath]

We have suicidal birds at our house.  I guess it is because my husband keeps the windows too clean but several times a year a bird will fly into the window and "fly" to birdie heaven.  When my son was younger, he used to bury them in our little "pet cemetery" but we just throw them in the garbage now.

Oh, and the goose poop!  The school where I used to teach is a stop over site for the migrating birds.  They start out on the grass but then migrate to the walkways looking for snacks and snails.  The kids don't seem to bother them at all and they have become accustomed to watching where they (the kids) walk.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Occasionally we will have birds fly full speed into our living room window (we also frequently have wayward golf balls hitting the same window but that's another story).  Usually the bird will be severely injured and will lie on the patio below the window trying to move.  It bothers me....a lot.  It takes them awhile to finally go to "bird heaven" and the whole time I feel kind of sick.  I don't know whether I should put them out of their misery...but I don't actually know how to do it.  I usually get DH to take them and bring them into the woods where they can go in peace.  Spring is coming and the "frequency" will pick up as there are more birds "traveling through".  Thanks for reminding me of this, Laurie.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Joanne, I not only know it, I see it every single day :)

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Did you know, Goose poop 20 times per hour?  Who did that study?  Honestly!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Amy, LOL

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

"Large roosters, plastic bags and pillows on the windows, dogs barking"

that sounds like the makings of a good country song!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

F, I told you I am a homebody and don't get out much :)

Thanks, Lonnie, for your support :)

Amy, My neighbors are going to love me. Large roosters, plastic bags and pillows on the windows, dogs barking...at this rate, I should make the local news :)

[Amy, Cubbie & Ollie]

hang some pillows outside infront of the window so the birds can't get to it  :)

[Lonnie & Libby Lu]

Now that makes me "angry" for you!