When Birds Attack...

[WoodysGirl]

See this is why I don't like walking under birds. That d*** Hitchcock movie has had me forever scared of them...
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NEW PECKING ORDER

Dive-bombing grackles send workers running

The blackbirds' efforts to defend their nest ruffle some feathers downtown

By BILL MURPHY
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
[font=verdana,arial,helvetica,ms sans-serif][size=-1]RESOURCES[/size][/font]
[font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-2][/size][/font]Some people who work in the seat of Harris County government are having trouble with higher-ups, and it has nothing to do with bosses or elected officials.

Aggressive grackles around the County Administration Building launched attacks Monday that left a lawyer bloodied and county employees wondering whether Hitchcock's The Birds was make-believe.

The birds flew their sorties on Preston in the morning. They swooped out of a stand of magnolia trees in front of the building and locked in on pedestrians' heads, hair and backs.

Grackles dived at a lawyer on his way to the county civil courthouse, said Precinct 1 Deputy Constable Wilbert Jue.

The lawyer swatted a bird away and was readying for another attack when he tripped and injured his face, Jue said. Paramedics treated him for several cuts.

The great-tailed grackles have been attacking passers-by the past three or four years in the late spring, said Jue, who provides security in the lobby of the county administration building.

They appear to be protecting their offspring, he said. A young grackle had fallen out of its nest Monday, and adult birds attacked people who got too close, Jue said.

"They were just going crazy," he said. "They were attacking everybody that walked by."

The county closed off the sidewalk with police tape.

"This is a very Hitchcock kind of story. Very Tippi Hedren," said Laura Aranda Smith of the county tax assessor-collector's office, referring to one of the stars of The Birds.

Sylvia Velasquez, a deputy county clerk, said one of the birds attacked her hair.

"I hit him with a bottle. The other birds came, and one attacked my blouse and on my back," she said.

She slid to the ground. Two women came to help her, and the birds turned on them, she said. The trio ran to the safety of the building.

Grackles, along with many other types of birds, will go to great lengths to defend a young bird, especially one on the verge of flying, said Winnie Burkett, Houston Audubon Society sanctuary manager.

They nest in colonies, so a number of adults, not merely the parents of the fallen bird, may have been behind the attacks, said Gary Clark, a dean at North Harris College who writes a nature column for the Chronicle.

Male great-tailed grackles are black with an iridescent sheen and have long tails. The females are brown. They were native to Mexico and South Texas, but have spread to Houston, Burkett said.

June Carlile, a deputy county clerk who was attacked Monday, joked that, if the birds want war, they'll get it.

"We're going to use our umbrellas and mace the next time," she said, laughing.

bill.murphy@chron.com

[font=verdana, arial, helvetica, sans-serif][size=-2][font=verdana,arial,helvetica,ms sans-serif][size=-1]GREAT-TAILED GRACKLE[/size][/font]

The birds are common year-round in Houston, often flocking to trees in heavily populated areas.
• Color: Males iridescent black; females brown
• Size: Length 15-18 inches; wingspan 15-25 inches
• Scientific name: Quiscalus mexicanus

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http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/3185089

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

I have to admit, ever since watching that movie, I always get a little creeped out when a walk out of a building only to see hundreds of the things on a nearby powerline.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

That movie never scared me....if birds attack then it might scare me, but the idea of some movie of birds attacking seemed too comical to me.

 

[TruBlueCowboy]

Nevermind the attacks, when you have hundreds of birds around, you have to watch out for all the crap that flies down. I don't know if these are the same species, but when I lived in College Station just north of Houston, there was one type of bird that was a pain in the butt for the university. Apparently, the construction had screwed up their natural habitat and so they would all unnaturally group together in just a few trees. There was this one parking lot where they loved to gather and you could always tell who had arrived late to class because they were the ones who were forced to take the parking spaces under the trees. If you left your car under that tree for just a few hours, you would come back and it would literally be all white from all the bird crap! They would try and fire off the football game cannon to scare the birds away but they'd all come back eventually. If Hitchcock had wanted to be as realistic as possible, he would have built a mile high mountain of bird poo in that Cali city that was attacked.

 

[WoodysGirl]

That movie never scared me....if birds attack then it might scare me, but the idea of some movie of birds attacking seemed too comical to me.

Well, every now and then the girly-girl comes out in me and this is one of those occasions.

And now that there have been birds swooping down on folks downtown which is also where I work. Ugh. That's almost worse than driving on a bridge over water. Like the ship channel. I avoid that bridge at all costs.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Well, every now and then the girly-girl comes out in me and this is one of those occasions.

And now that there have been birds swooping down on folks downtown which is also where I work. Ugh. That's almost worse than driving on a bridge over water. Like the ship channel. I avoid that bridge at all costs.

Did you ever stop and check to see if some of those old ladies where you work, and that you pester, have been throwing bread crumbs or rice in your hair and that the birds are going after that and not you? :

 

[WoodysGirl]

Did you ever stop and check to see if some of those old ladies where you work, and that you pester, have been throwing bread crumbs or rice in your hair and that the birds are going after that and not you? :

No, they barely look at much less get close to me to do something like that. They're some mean ol-biddies, I tell you. One min they're nice and the next they look right through you.

On a side note, I'm VERY anal about my hair. I don't like anyone touching my hair besides me and my hairstylist. So I would notice if someone did that to my hair. I'd be in HR cuz someone would've reported me for causing a "hostile work environment." :

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

No, they barely look at much less get close to me to do something like that. They're some mean ol-biddies, I tell you. One min they're nice and the next they look right through you.

On a side note, I'm VERY anal about my hair. I don't like anyone touching my hair besides me and my hairstylist. So I would notice if someone did that to my hair. I'd be in HR cuz someone would've reported me for causing a "hostile work environment." :

I have learned over the years that a multitude of females at the same job site is a catalyst for envy, greed, jealousy, backstabbing and talking behind ones back.

Oh...and they can carry a grudge forever over what they THOUGHT they heard.

Funny stuff.

 

[WoodysGirl]

I have learned over the years that a multitude of females at the same job site is a catalyst for envy, greed, jealousy, backstabbing and talking behind ones back.

Oh...and they can carry a grudge forever over what they THOUGHT they heard.

Funny stuff.

Now do I seem that unreasonable? No. But yeah, too many women in the workplace can cause some major issues...lol That's why I tend to hang w/the guys. The problem is the other women get jealous and rumors start to fly.

Me and my other co-workers call the ol biddies the menopause crew....lol The way they talk to each other AND their Supv is a trip.

 

[joseephuss]

I have always heard not to mess with grackles and crows. They are supposedly vindictive and have good memories. I have some friends that work at a local Central Market and there are lots of the birds there. Every now and them, some customer will mess with a nest or a fallen baby bird. They are forever attacked any time they come back to shop.

My favorite enounter with a bird was a mockingbird. I saw a baby out of its nest as I walked to check my mail. This young lady and her dog walked by at the same time. She asked if we should do something, I said no because I could see two adult mocking birds near by. I continued on my way and less than a minute later I heard screaming and barking. I looked back to see the girl and dog running while being attacked by the birds. I asked yelling what happened even though I already knew the answer. She screamed back that she tried to pick up the baby.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Now do I seem that unreasonable? No. But yeah, too many women in the workplace can cause some major issues...lol That's why I tend to hang w/the guys. The problem is the other women get jealous and rumors start to fly.

Me and my other co-workers call the ol biddies the menopause crew....lol The way they talk to each other AND their Supv is a trip.

You shouldn't make fun of the mentopause crew.....because years down the road some young thing will be calling you and your friends the mentopause crew. :

 

[ROMOSAPIEN9]

Nothing a good BB gun couldn't take care of.

 

[Yeagermeister]

I can see WG running into the building and after she gets in returns to her usual self

 

[Chief]

There's not a bird on this planet that can take me.

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

There's not a bird on this planet that can take me.

You haven't met the right woman yet....oh you said Bird :

 

[trickblue]

There's not a bird on this planet that can take me.

 

[Yeagermeister]

Chief could take Larry Bird of 2005

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Chief could take Larry Bird of 2005

Not if chief resembles Spud Webb of 2005 lol.

 

[WoodysGirl]

You shouldn't make fun of the mentopause crew.....because years down the road some young thing will be calling you and your friends the mentopause crew. :

Hey if you only knew how I was counting the days to menopause..lol What women go through every month should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. So in my eyes, it's a compliment and a rite of passage for all women...

 

[WoodysGirl]

I can see WG running into the building and after she gets in returns to her usual self

Dang, you're getting to know me so well. I'd also pat my hair to make sure it's ok, too...