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Proving Hitchcock Right, Bird Attacks Are Turning Violent This Summer
wsj.com ^ | 7/15/19 | By Fleming Smith

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 ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: birds; blackbirds; redwingedblackbirds
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To: thoughtomator
More likely these people have no nature sense at all and are doing something to piss off the birds.

It has been a few years, but I had a crow stalk me for several minutes while I was out for a walk. It didn't dive bomb me, but it flew from tree to tree until I was no longer a threat. Maybe it was something I was wearing at the time that looked like a threat.

21 posted on 07/16/2019 11:20:49 AM PDT by EVO X
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To: ransomnote

I saw this movie about 6 months ago for the first time. I thought it would be homey, but it was really creepy & suspenseful. A very strange movie.


22 posted on 07/16/2019 11:21:01 AM PDT by leaning conservative (snow coming, school cancelled, yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: leaning conservative

Hokey


23 posted on 07/16/2019 11:21:33 AM PDT by leaning conservative (snow coming, school cancelled, yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: ransomnote

I was just last night watching a male wren attack anything within 20 feet of the nest box.....Mostly other birds.


24 posted on 07/16/2019 11:22:58 AM PDT by READINABLUESTATE (Sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution - Judge Jeanie Pirro)
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To: ransomnote

Those Hitchcock movies showed a California which is now forever gone.


25 posted on 07/16/2019 11:24:21 AM PDT by yarddog
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To: ransomnote
Nothing new, red wing blackbirds are especially aggressive during nesting season as are grackles.....

As a side note, there have been lots of the red wings, grackles and cowbirds at my feeder this spring and summer....I guess the word is out that I feed really well.

26 posted on 07/16/2019 11:28:55 AM PDT by Hot Tabasco (I'm in the cleaning business.......I launder money)
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To: Jolla

Hitchcock didn’t come up with idea for The Birds,it was from a story by Daphne Dumaurier..


27 posted on 07/16/2019 11:29:44 AM PDT by Mears
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To: ransomnote

Carry a tennis racket when you walk.


28 posted on 07/16/2019 11:33:23 AM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Cecily

Good kitty!


29 posted on 07/16/2019 11:34:46 AM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Rebelbase

Spring is here
A-suh-puh-ring is here
Life is skittles and life is beer
I think the loveliest time
Of the year is the spring
I do, don’t you? ‘Course you do
But there’s one thing
That makes spring complete for me
And makes every Sunday
A treat for me

All the world seems in tune
On a spring afternoon
When we’re poisoning pigeons in the park
Every Sunday you’ll see
My sweetheart and me
As we poison the pigeons in the park

When they see us coming
The birdies all try an’ hide
But they still go for peanuts
When coated with cyanide
The sun’s shining bright
Everything seems all right
When we’re poisoning pigeons in the park

We’ve gained notoriety
And caused much anxiety
In the Audubon Society
With our games
They call it impiety
And lack of propriety
And quite a variety
Of unpleasant names
But it’s not against any religion
To want to dispose of a pigeon

So if Sunday you’re free
Why don’t you come with me
And we’ll poison the pigeons in the park
And maybe we’ll do
In a squirrel or two
While we’re poisoning pigeons in the park

We’ll murder them all
Amid laughter and merriment
Except for the few
We take home to experiment
My pulse will be quickenin’
With each drop of strych’nine
We feed to a pigeon
(It just takes a smidgin!)
To poison a pigeon in the park

-Tom Lehrer


30 posted on 07/16/2019 11:35:38 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: leaning conservative

The movie was released in 1963 just in time for it to hit all the drive-ins in the early summer. I turned 16 that March and probably saw the movie, or parts of it, ten times with various dates. All the girls were pretty grossed out at some of the scenes. I had a major league crush on Tipi Hedron.


31 posted on 07/16/2019 11:37:32 AM PDT by VietVet876
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To: Mears

Well . . . a seagull stole a piece of calamari from a squid sandwich I was holding. He lived to regret that thievery. And the other day my car was carpet bombed by a squadron of pelicans. On the other hand a pelican allowed me to hold him as I removed a fish hook from his hide, and a fledgling bluebird hopped into my hands. So, it goes both ways.


32 posted on 07/16/2019 11:37:38 AM PDT by p. henry
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To: Flash Bazbeaux

“The Birds” appeared “Spellbinders in Suspense”, one of the short story compilations under Hitchcock’s name in the late 60s, long after the movie. Roald Dahl’s “Man from the South” was also in it, IIRC.

Recently I’ve watched some of the Alfred Hitchcock Presents dramatizations, and I’ve been surprised at how many of the old mystery and horror stories made it to Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Including “A Man from the South”, and another Roald Dahl, “Lamb to the Slaughter”, about a woman who conks her husband dead with a frozen roast lamb, then feeds it to the cops who show up to investigate.


33 posted on 07/16/2019 11:45:19 AM PDT by Flash Bazbeaux
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To: ransomnote

Forty years ago, an eastern kingbird used to dive at my head every morning as I walked under its nest and once tangled its claws in my hair.


34 posted on 07/16/2019 11:57:03 AM PDT by heartwood (Someone has to play devil's advocate.)
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To: ransomnote

Carry an old wooden tennis racket... or an 870


35 posted on 07/16/2019 12:08:13 PM PDT by DesertRhino (Dog is man's best friend, and moslems hate dogs. Add that up. ....)
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To: dhs12345

My car has been covered too. It is so bad that I have to wash it before I use it or be shamed by the sight of it in the parking lot at the store. I don’t remember it ever being anything close to being this bad.


36 posted on 07/16/2019 12:16:34 PM PDT by Ann de IL
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To: Ann de IL

I have a theory that birds are creatures of habit and follow the same flight path while they “relive themselves.” I have moved my car a couple of spaces down and haven’t been hit yet. Crossing my fingers!


37 posted on 07/16/2019 12:25:53 PM PDT by dhs12345
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To: ransomnote

Don’t trespass in birds’ backyards.


38 posted on 07/16/2019 1:03:44 PM PDT by bgill
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To: EVO X

Crows have long memories, and will attack someone they’d attacked a year earlier.


39 posted on 07/16/2019 3:12:07 PM PDT by Does so (A mysterious nuclear explosion would have the fingerprints of Uranium One!)
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To: VietVet876

Okay, Mr. Wildman ; )

My hubby found her beautiful too. She was very reserved and mysterious. And yes it had several gross scenes.


40 posted on 07/16/2019 4:07:28 PM PDT by leaning conservative (snow coming, school cancelled, yayyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!)
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