The Birds: Dun, Dun, Dunnnn

Birds, Birds, and more Birds. This story is about when birds attack. Similar to the movie with the same horrible ending. (Sorry Hitchcock fans but it's true.)

Wildlife was all around my grandparents' house. Rabbits, bats, and birds. (So many birds) They made nests all over their house. There were these giant, wooden stars that hung on their front porch. Nests were made behind and on top of them. We watched so many grow up. They were mostly robins, so these sweet little blue eggs would be laid then in only a few weeks they would all grown up and gone. On some occasions though, they would build theirs in the backyard on top of the electrical box.

This was a super dangerous choice for the obvious, but also Lucy. She could literally scale trees. For real, catching birds out of the sky mid-flight. Running up the tree then pushing off it and landing on her feet on the ground. There were numerous times we would find dead birds laying in the yard because of her. So, it was always nerve-racking when nests were made back here.

Now, there was a mother and her babies on this electrical box. We would let Lucy out and watch her the entire time. We were constantly worried, as she noticed them, would run under the nest. Then they were starting to learn to fly. They would leap, completely nosedive into the ground and get back up.

On this particular day, a bird had fallen out of the nest, trying to fly and didn't get back up. We were unsure of what to do. The best option we settled on was to get a broom and try to pick the bird up. I watched from the back door as my mom neared closer to the baby bird. Once to the bird, she tried to move it. Four adult birds began dive bombing her. She started waving the broom above her head and screaming "Get away, I'm trying to help!"

They were clearly not fluent in English because they continued to attack. One right after the other. Swoop, scream, swoop, swoop, wave of broom, swoop, running away frantically. She managed to get the baby bird, who had sadly died, in between this vicious cycle. We gave this precious, little birdy a proper burial. Once the others had grown up and they were all gone, we removed the nest.

Thank goodness, no more bird dances for us. Birds kept building nests in the front. We would always hear their little squeaks from our kitchen. Stepping outside when their mom was gone, these featherless, babies would sit there with their eyes closed, mouths open awaiting their meal. The cutest thing you will ever see and waaaay less stressful!

Please tell me we're not alone with these birds, leave your wildlife experience in the comments!

Fun fact: Arkansas's state bird is the Northern Mockingbird.