Posted on 07/16/2019 10:34:50 AM PDT by ransomnote
Stephen Vedder used to enjoy peaceful lakeside runs near his Marlborough, Mass., home. This spring, after years of coexisting with an ornery neighbor, those tranquil outings came to an end.
It started with a whack to the back of the head. Next, Mr. Vedder was divebombed. Then clawed.
The culprit was a red-winged blackbird.
More than 250 million of the birds live across North and Central America, and this summer some are feeling extra aggressive toward human neighbors—driving them to change walking routes, wear protective headgear or furiously wave arms above their heads as they jog.
“You talk to people about being attacked by birds, and they look at you like you’re crazy,” says Mr. Vedder, a 60-year-old programmer. “This is ‘The Birds’ all over again, but it’s real!”
Many people who have long lived in harmony with the birds have noticed an uptick in their aerial assaults this season. Bird-on-human attacks are growing more common as people encroach on their habitats, says Lori Naumann, information officer at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Another Trump effect, or global warming?
Isn’t that a sign of the end times? Animals turning on people and even killing them?
> Bird-on-human attacks are growing more common as people encroach on their habitats <
No, no, no. Like every other problem on Earth, this is caused by Global Warming.
Introduce a few mocking birds; they’ll wipe the floor with the blackbirds. Of course, they can nest low, too, and swoop on humans.
Not Hitchock.
Daphne Du Maurier. She also wrote “Rebecca”
For gosh sakes!
I was dive bombed by king and mocking birds fifty plus years ago.
They were protecting their nests...
Certain type of birds do that, you know.
And yes, I couldn’t pass by a nest without at least taking a peek. Sometimes I’d take an egg...
So them birds were on to me.
He must have been running close to their nests.
They get very protective and courageous in defending their homes.
I presume tweeting this information would be the most effective way to warn people of the savage birds.
Hitchcock often visited Capitola during his filming of Vertigo, a nice little seaside community below Santa Cruz, on one of the weekends he read of bird attacks on tourist. The seed was planted for the movie.
A side note for baseball fans, Harry Hooper was an outfielder for the early great Boston Red Sox teams the others in the outfield were Duffy Lewis and Tres Speaker. all three in the HOF Harry was the postmaster for Cupertino from 1933 into the 50s
RWBBs nest on the ground, often in roadside ditches here in Trump Country, and defend them vigorously. Typically they will sit on fenceposts or overhead wires and warn you off with a loud click-chirp but also they will fly over and become more aggressive. I’d heard of them doing it -then one day a RWBB actually hit my bike helmet. No harm done, but seeing it diving in from my six in the mirror was a bit unnerving!
More likely these people have no nature sense at all and are doing something to piss off the birds.
Summer is breeding season and there is nothing unusual this summer other than in areas where it was rainier there’s a better insect and fruit food supply and in abundance birds will often try to raise an extra brood of chicks, extending the season a bit.
The problem with liberals is for them history begins anew each morning so everything that happens seems to them to be unprecedented.
I have seen birds dive bombing cats.
Probably mama birds. Definitely a dangerous activity.
My car has been covered with a lot more bird .... than usual. There are long tracks of .... in the parking lot. Does this count?
Yep. It started as a short story by du Maurier.
That story gave Hitchcock the idea for the movie. (AFAIK)
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