Angela Verdenius's Blog - Posts Tagged "birds"
Bad Bird Week
I'm having a bad bird week.
Yesterday, on my way home from work, I popped into Hungry Jacks for a Storm M & M. So basically soft serve ice cream with a sprinkling of Mini M & Ms. Yuuuummmm! This is my weekly treat and I'd been looking forward to it.
So I parked the car in the bays out front of HJ and prepared to hoe in to my delicious treat. Then a I hear a flutter and skitter and look up to see a hopeful seagull has landed on my bonnet on the passenger side. Feeling mean because I had no chips to give him (her...whatever), I avoided eye contact, kept my gaze down and spooned up ice cream and M & Ms. Then I hear another skitter and glance up to see that the seagull has sidled across to stand right in front of the driver's side of the bonnet - so right in my vision.
I slunk lower in my seat feeling even more guilty and kept scooping ice cream. By now I wasn't enjoying it as much. I could feel his eyes drilling into me through the windscreen. Determinedly, I kept my gaze down but couldn't help glancing up just once more to see him with his head side-on giving me the beady eyeball.
I don't think I could have slunk any further into my seat.
To make matters worse, another seagull hopped onto my bonnet and now I was getting two beady eyeballs. Just as I was absorbing the twin beacons, a third seagull fluttered down beside the car.
I was now getting vibes of The Birds.
I did manage to finish my ice cream and all three gulls flew away in a huff, but geez, it was my one weekly treat! And I couldn't throw the ice cream out onto the parking bay - they wouldn't eat it anyway! But I did not enjoy it as much as I usually do :-(
Sunday morning I went for my walk and as I came up alongside the park, I started getting dive bombed by a Willy Wag Tail. Now in Australia, magpies are notorious for dive bombing people during breeding season, but a Willy Wag Tail? Really? This little bugger kept diving from the side and back, and I figured he was either after some of my hair which I'd left loose, or was trying to frighten me away. He stopped as soon as I was away from the park, but then I had to brave the indignant feathery ball of cheeky black and white on the way back - and yep, he was waiting for me. Little engines going as he streamed in, chirping and swearing, and there I was, hands flapping behind my head like a lunatic because I had this vision of him getting his claws tangled in my hair and freaking out, and I'd have to knock on someone's door in the early morning and get them to help untangle him!
I tell you, birds and I just don't seem to get along this week!
Yesterday, on my way home from work, I popped into Hungry Jacks for a Storm M & M. So basically soft serve ice cream with a sprinkling of Mini M & Ms. Yuuuummmm! This is my weekly treat and I'd been looking forward to it.
So I parked the car in the bays out front of HJ and prepared to hoe in to my delicious treat. Then a I hear a flutter and skitter and look up to see a hopeful seagull has landed on my bonnet on the passenger side. Feeling mean because I had no chips to give him (her...whatever), I avoided eye contact, kept my gaze down and spooned up ice cream and M & Ms. Then I hear another skitter and glance up to see that the seagull has sidled across to stand right in front of the driver's side of the bonnet - so right in my vision.
I slunk lower in my seat feeling even more guilty and kept scooping ice cream. By now I wasn't enjoying it as much. I could feel his eyes drilling into me through the windscreen. Determinedly, I kept my gaze down but couldn't help glancing up just once more to see him with his head side-on giving me the beady eyeball.
I don't think I could have slunk any further into my seat.
To make matters worse, another seagull hopped onto my bonnet and now I was getting two beady eyeballs. Just as I was absorbing the twin beacons, a third seagull fluttered down beside the car.
I was now getting vibes of The Birds.
I did manage to finish my ice cream and all three gulls flew away in a huff, but geez, it was my one weekly treat! And I couldn't throw the ice cream out onto the parking bay - they wouldn't eat it anyway! But I did not enjoy it as much as I usually do :-(
Sunday morning I went for my walk and as I came up alongside the park, I started getting dive bombed by a Willy Wag Tail. Now in Australia, magpies are notorious for dive bombing people during breeding season, but a Willy Wag Tail? Really? This little bugger kept diving from the side and back, and I figured he was either after some of my hair which I'd left loose, or was trying to frighten me away. He stopped as soon as I was away from the park, but then I had to brave the indignant feathery ball of cheeky black and white on the way back - and yep, he was waiting for me. Little engines going as he streamed in, chirping and swearing, and there I was, hands flapping behind my head like a lunatic because I had this vision of him getting his claws tangled in my hair and freaking out, and I'd have to knock on someone's door in the early morning and get them to help untangle him!
I tell you, birds and I just don't seem to get along this week!
Bird in the House - no, seriously!
A bird in the house - seriously, a real feathered bird in the house.
So it's 3 days off from work, I ran around this morning helping a friend, watched a horror movie during lunch with Mum, then settled down for an afternoon of writing.
All is quiet and I'm industriously *typing*typing*typing* then I hear this weird sound. Fluttering, kind of, and for one freaky moment I think...did I open a door to the netherworld by watching one too many horror movies? (not that I'm paranoid or anything, but...)
I ignore the noise, all goes quiet, then I hear it again. I finally get up, leave my little writing room and look into the kitchen and - spy a young dove sitting on our kitchen table. And 3 cats sitting on the floor in a semi-circle with huge eyes and whiskers bristling.
Now you can't blame the cats, they are indoor cats and cannot go outside to catch birds, so what has happened (and it has happened before in the past, but not for awhile) is this dove has come ambling through the trellis on the back veranda and managed to find itself amongst a whole heap of dove-loving, chicken-lickin' cats.
Not a good situation for the dove.
So now here I am, creeping around, trying to catch this dove and field off the cats at the same time. Yes, the cats are all following me, eyes huge, tails wagging. And there's my Mum who apparently thinks helping is standing in the doorway giving advice while the dove is fluttering above my head and the cats are converging on me and the dove in a little furry horde.
But - and here's where you'll be So proud of me (okay, maybe you don't care but I'm stoked), I managed to catch the bird and take it outside (much to the disappointment of the cats who had an interesting interlude to an otherwise very quiet - and possibly boring - afternoon), and put it out near the bowl of bird seed and water Mum puts out every morning.
And SO CUTE, PEOPLE! The little dove just sat in my palm, looking around.
All right, it was probably scared, little heart pounding away, and possibly weak birdie-kneed at the narrow escape and having some hulking human carrying it, but I like to think it found me non-threatening and was getting it's bearings while feeling totally safe.
Oh, come on! Let me live my little fantasy for a few minutes! ROTFL
Anyway, it was an interesting interlude, I felt quite maternal towards the little feathery bloke (or sheila, I don't really know). Now it's back to writing for me!
So it's 3 days off from work, I ran around this morning helping a friend, watched a horror movie during lunch with Mum, then settled down for an afternoon of writing.
All is quiet and I'm industriously *typing*typing*typing* then I hear this weird sound. Fluttering, kind of, and for one freaky moment I think...did I open a door to the netherworld by watching one too many horror movies? (not that I'm paranoid or anything, but...)
I ignore the noise, all goes quiet, then I hear it again. I finally get up, leave my little writing room and look into the kitchen and - spy a young dove sitting on our kitchen table. And 3 cats sitting on the floor in a semi-circle with huge eyes and whiskers bristling.
Now you can't blame the cats, they are indoor cats and cannot go outside to catch birds, so what has happened (and it has happened before in the past, but not for awhile) is this dove has come ambling through the trellis on the back veranda and managed to find itself amongst a whole heap of dove-loving, chicken-lickin' cats.
Not a good situation for the dove.
So now here I am, creeping around, trying to catch this dove and field off the cats at the same time. Yes, the cats are all following me, eyes huge, tails wagging. And there's my Mum who apparently thinks helping is standing in the doorway giving advice while the dove is fluttering above my head and the cats are converging on me and the dove in a little furry horde.
But - and here's where you'll be So proud of me (okay, maybe you don't care but I'm stoked), I managed to catch the bird and take it outside (much to the disappointment of the cats who had an interesting interlude to an otherwise very quiet - and possibly boring - afternoon), and put it out near the bowl of bird seed and water Mum puts out every morning.
And SO CUTE, PEOPLE! The little dove just sat in my palm, looking around.
All right, it was probably scared, little heart pounding away, and possibly weak birdie-kneed at the narrow escape and having some hulking human carrying it, but I like to think it found me non-threatening and was getting it's bearings while feeling totally safe.
Oh, come on! Let me live my little fantasy for a few minutes! ROTFL
Anyway, it was an interesting interlude, I felt quite maternal towards the little feathery bloke (or sheila, I don't really know). Now it's back to writing for me!
