It's like this m'lud. I was exiting the lobby of this here hotel at approx 1600 hrs local time on Sunday 15th April. A helluva racket did assault my eardrums followed by a higher pitched squawking from the nearby lawn. Upon perusing the ground I saw at the base of a tree an infant bird, a GA Grackle no less. The parent birds were in the branches above no doubt glaring down at me hearts filled with pure hatred. I did the only thing a birder could do, I picked up the youngster and placed it gently in the fork of said tree about a yard above ground. As I did so a parent bird came down and struck me a glancing blow on the lower cranium recalling happy memories of Friday nights outside The Old Crown when I was a younger man.
As I retreated the scene it would appear both parent birds assumed I was walking away with the a/m juvenile such was the close attention they employed on my personage for a minute or so. I then walked swiftly back by a different approach coming to within approx 5 yards of the young infant to see it perched calmly in the tree fork. After some 45 seconds I walked away and stopped some 25 yards from the tree where I could see a parent bird on the tree trunk just a few feet up looking down at the offspring. No m'lud pressing charges against the bird that struck me is out of the question. I'm thankful the bird in question is out of the way of land predators, I mean you should have seen the size of this bleedin crab laying in wait outside my room last night...
Other news today I looked over the perimeter fence just after the above episode to find a pair of Killdeer are breeding just some 35 yards from my back door. Soil Hill eat your heart out.
PS I just walked past the main story spot to gain WiFi access at 1740 hrs. Lots of noise, 1 Infant Grackle on the grass near a concrete path, 3 adult birds on a tree or wire fence and 7 Turkey Vulture aloft. Awww Crap.
