Birds fly into the windows all the time. Well, not all the time; nothing happens all the time. Except ageing.
Depending on the light, the glass becomes a mirror, and they fly into it full pelt imagining, I suppose, they are flying into that which is behind them, the future their past, ending in a sickening thud.
This morning I was sitting at the dining room table which runs alongside big glass sliding doors which open on the terrace and the garden. It was cool, there was light rain and I was warm and snug inside.
Thud.
There's a check list - keep the dog away; is it dead, from head injury or more likely broken neck - too horrible to describe; do I need to protect it while it recovers, or while it dies, in my hand. To my surprise the victim of today's collision was a gorgeous little Kingfisher. Oh no, this was the second time this had happened and only the second time I'd seen them, and on finding the link I find that I'm repeating myself, which I do, often.
He survived. And by the time I had the camera, he was looking around. Tiny - not much bigger than gum leaf - beautifully coloured, and all beak.
The looking around went on a bit, oblivious to me (and the dog) just inside the glass.
Suddenly there was a startled flurry, a rearing up and as quickly, as if in almost fatal supplication, the body then stilled except for a ghastly open beaked silent cry of anguish. A big Wattle Bird had flown in and stood with flared tail feathers and aggressively outstretched neck and forward beak, just to the left of the picture frame.
(click to enlarge photos)
Reflexly I knocked on the glass, to disturb the bully, anything but be witness to whatever next. The Kingfisher got away first, fast and fleet, across the lawn to the nearest tress, the Wattle Bird not far behind and to cap it all off, a second Wattle Bird swooped out of nowhere to join the pursuit.
4 comments:
The sky knocks you out then you come to, surrounded by bullies. Life is brutal isn't it, even for such a pretty little thing?
It's a jungle out there !
First off, Happy New Year! Always good to see the survivors, and you've certainly caught the spirit of this one. We have a terrible problem with this, also, but recently, Audubon had an advertisement for a possible solution that looked promising here. We're still in the trial and error stage, so I can't vouch for them, but we are hopeful.
And Happy New Year to you too Sue.
That looks interesting and while I'm reluctant to interfere too much with the windows and doors, I'm checking it out. Thanks.
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