You would think
that house sparrows would be timid and generally shy away from
close human contact. Not necessarily! James, in his not so distant
youth, was walking down the busy Island Highway, facing
traffic with his thumb in the air. The weather was good and he had
a few things on his mind, the most pending was obtaining a ride to
his destination. Out of the blue a very small, non-descript bird
had startled him from his introspection by flying in close
proximity to his head! He thought this unusual, but brushed it off
as one of those things that sometimes happens. "It must have been
confused by the traffic", he thought. A few minutes later it
happened again! He stopped walking and looked around at the sky.
He saw nothing unusual, just a few small birds here and there.
Suddenly the bird attacked again, but this time it had brought
re-enforcements! He couldn't believe what was happening. He was
being bombarded with first a few, then eight, ten, and twelve
birds! There was no where to run for cover. Scenes from
Hitchcock's movie "The Birds" began to form in his mind. "Don't
panic," he said to himself, this doesn't happen in real life!"
While protecting his head and eyes from the angry birds he noticed
at his feet, the still body of a house sparrow. It appeared to
have been knocked senseless by a car and died shortly after. James
moved a few yards down the highway. The birds ceased their tirade
on him but remained close by their fallen companion. Other birds,
such as crows and their cousins have been known to behave like
this, but never before had I heard of the lowly house sparrow
taking up the sword! And that's not the only close encounter of
the bird kind that James has ever had.
Posted by Jadzia
