With all the Wright and Gas Tax diaries out there, I wanted to throw something a little different into the mix. If you like it, tell me; if you don't, tell me that, too.
My dad got me interested in birding. I have a feeder in my backyard that attracts all sorts of visitors. Until a few years ago, it was a rare and exciting thing to see a Cardinal perched on the feeder.
:: more below the fold ::
Then one day, we heard tapping on the window. It turned out to be a male Northern Cardinal flying into our window. He was driving our cat Soxie (who is sadly no longer with us) insane. At first, we thought that Soxie had eaten his mate. But then we saw the female sitting in a nearby tree, watching her mate attack our windows.
Perplexed, we checked online to see what the internets had to say about Cardinals. As it turns out, they are very territorial, and they will attack their reflection in windows. That explained why he was flying into the windows. The next question was how do we get him to stop?
We tried hanging CDs around the house, covering the windows with silhouettes of hawks, nothing worked. Soon he was flying full speed into the glass, leaving blood splatters wherever he hit.
Cut to year before last: our dear Cardinal is still attacking his reflection, but now some virus has turned him bald. All the feathers on his head are gone. Every once in a while, his son shows up, but when baldy comes back his son flies away.
Today, the old Cardinal is dead, and the new generation has taken over. Every once in a while we hear a tap tap tap as the son attacks his reflection in the glass.
this isn't our cardinal. I couldn't get a good picture of him.