Red-winged black attack!

Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds

Isn't the song of the red-winged blackbird quite beautiful?  Listen here...

song of the red-winged black bird

I've frequently enjoyed watching these birds perched on short trees and tall grasses in the marshy areas of my neighborhood and thought that their song is lovely.  Well, Alfred Hitchcock must have known something about red-winged blackbirds when he was putting together the classic horror film The Birds. I took a less traveled route home from my run today, past a swamp generally full of turtles, ducks, and a couple of muskrats.  Snakes, yes, but I have *never* had a problem with birds, until today.  Apparently I walked too close to the nest of a very protective papa.  This particular bird dive bombed me, and kept at it until I ran full speed about 100 yards from the attack!

I didn't know this before, but I found out today that what Wikipedia says is really true:  The Red-winged Blackbird aggressively defends its territory from other animals. It will attack much larger birds.^[18] Males have been known to swoop humans who encroach upon their nesting territory during breeding season.^[19][20]

No kidding!  Different route tomorrow, at least until breeding season is over.

Nec aspera terrent!


6/8/12 - 2.0 miles |  23 min | 5.1 mph | 219 kcal

Buzzard food

The weather front that passed last night brought the first twinge of the seasons changing.  I'm amazed at the many signs of autumn already visible in the neighborhood.  A few trees have pinches of color, the sumac berries are beginning to bud, and all the little turkey buzzard chicks have gotten BIG.  I rounded one of the corners of the back route I like to take when I run in the evening.  There in my path was an entire gaggle of turkey buzzards, just standing there, looking at *me*.  


I immediately was reminded of the feeling I had while watching my first Hitchcock movie when I was about seven, only the birds in The Birds seemed a whole lot smaller than these.  I slowed my pace just a bit, but kept running, not sure what else to do.  I noticed the deep red of their featherless heads, the beady twitching of their eyes, and the nasty sharp point at the end of their flesh eating beaks.  Just when I decided it might be better to turn back in search of an alternate route, they started running, and then took flight.  I remained unsettled with 30+ carrion connoisseurs flying not very far above my head, but they didn't bother me, so I kept on running.


I can honestly say I've never before been challenged to think on my feet because I was being stared down by a collection of vultures.  I was happy when I got home to read this in Wiki Answers:

"Turkey vultures are only interested in food items that do not move, run away or fight back."

Amen.


Até amanhã... 
8/25/11 - 3.2 miles | 36 mins | 5.4 mph | 355 kcal