I have always had a hate- love relationship with birds. It used to be more of a fear-hate relationship with birds in that I was afraid of them landing on my head. Then it evolved to more of a curiosity-healthy respect for them in that I wanted to know more about them, but I still didn’t want them to come close to my head. Viewing them from far away though, I have recently started to become more interested in them in the past few years.
I don’t remember exactly what it was that I read, but I remember reading something about how when people get older, they start to be able to notice and appreciate details like birds and wild animals in a way that they didn’t notice or appreciate them in their youth. I think that I might be one of those people. For my whole life, my father was always like, “Look, it’s a deer” or “Look, it’s a hawk over there” while we were driving in the car. I would almost never see the animal in question as a young person, with my young person eyes. But now, with my middle-aged eyes I notice birds and animals in way that I didn’t before.
I can’t see small print on wrappers and boxes anymore but I can see the colors of birds on trees!
Birds often have fun color schemes on their bodies. They are sometimes like tiny little pieces of art that you get to look at for free. Sometimes they sing pretty little songs. They are like a little treat that the workd gives you just because.
I still don’t like them flying near my head, but I am cooler with birds than I used to be.
 I even wrote a blog post about the Merlin App back in August of last year. My once Alfred Hitchcock-like bird fear was mellowing out it seemed.
But now I am at war. I have robin who has started a conflict last Thursday. He, I think it is a he, the internet says that male robins get territorial in April.
He, started by pecking at the railing on my front porch. He has graduated to pecking at the front door window several times a day and pooping all over the porch, especially the area right outside of the door. He also sings his high-pitched cheery song. By observing him from my car after arriving home, I have noticed that he perches on the door handle which is lever shaped and maybe perfect for his little feet to stand on.
Oh, how cute, a bird sitting on a door handle . . .
The culprit at work.
At first, I tried tactics to make our front porch less hospitable. After reading online that birds get confused when they can see their shadows, I bought Easter window clings and covered the glass door with them. After I read that birds can be scared off by chimes and noise makers, I made a makeshift wind chime out of a pie pan and an unused shoelace. I read that birds can be scared by shiny moving things like old CDs, so I rounded a few of those up and hung them on the door handle to the house.
Last Friday, I even dumped warm soapy water on the porch several times on one moring to get rid of the bird poop, in hopes of employing a Broken-Windows type theory, like the way that cities get rid of the evidence of disorder to encourage less vandalism and graffiti.
At this point now, about a week after the bird’s first visit, I have sort of given up. I want to take the window clings off the window because I think that they look silly now that Easter Day is over. Though I know from reading my Sunday school text that the Easter season lasts 50 days, I don’t think that pastel bunnies and colored eggs look good for that amount of time.
Plus, looking at them and then looking at the poop below the door makes me feel a sense of defeat. I haven’t tricked the bird. I can photograph the bird and try my little tactics till I am blue in the face, but this bird has a beef with me, and it won’t be pacified till it finds a mate.
According to the National Wildlife Federation, American Robin males mate from April till July and can have 2-3 sets of young in one season. I am kind of hoping that this behavior on my porch is just early rowdy behavior and that once it has its first clutch of eggs, it will be satiated and will calm down a bit, like a male human. Maybe he just to sow some wild oats!.
Maybe by this time next week, all the bird poop and tapping on the window will all be a distant memory and I will be back to appreciating birds from afar again.
Fingers crossed!
PS: Fun Fact- I can hear the bird knocking as I get ready to publish this post!
Katie, this is hilarious. Thanks for sharing! We tried to rescue a baby robin last spring and then quickly learned you should leave them alone. This was after we fed him a meal of delicious crushed raspberries through a syringe. He didn’t want to leave after that and screamed all day for more raspberries.
Hi Kate,
That is a very interesting story. I wonder how the how the bird that you met is doing now? Birds are funny. Thank you for reading. Katie
This is so funny! However, I do sympathize with you for all the trouble the bird(s) as causing!
Thank you Aunt Jeanne
OMG, that’s so funny, Katie! That bird has it out for you!
Hi Jenny, I think that he does