Week 25: Textured

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One of the more fascinating things about living out in the boonies is observing the behavior of the wildlife. One of the more disturbing things is realizing most wildlife is not very intelligent and will continue to repeat behavior not in their best interest.  Although the big windows in our family room are protected by the second floor patio above (in other words not out in the open), birds constantly fly into them; we’re talking 20-30 birds a day. Apparently this is due the territorial nature of some birds and their mating season! The Massachusetts Audubon Society has a good explanation of it here.

This little guy sat on our fountain for awhile and then took off, full speed, directly into the window and dropped like a rock onto the patio. We’ve observed that this behavior usually results in a slight, temporary concussion and after a little bit, birds usually right themselves and fly away. Sometimes, though, they decide to try again (hence the term “bird-brained”) and it’s either a suicide mission or it takes them a little longer to recover. Such was the case with our little friend.  It took about 10 minutes this time before he got to his feet, but he was obviously still stunned.  When I realized he wasn’t going to move I was able to sit next to him on the ground and get some shots before he recovered sufficiently to fly away.

Click for a closer look.