Our Birds

My front yard, and everything in it is slowly being taken over by what my family and I call "our birds." There is a family of wild little birds that have made the decorative bird house on our front porch their permanent home! There are two parent birds and three baby birds that spend their days flying around my yard, resting on bushes, drinking out of the bird bath and drain pipe, eating the worms in front lawn, and we generally think its pretty cool that they live there. It's fun to watch them grow and learn to fly right in front of our eyes! But recently they have been really... annoying! They have found the gutter right above my window to be their preferred spot to sing at 4 am. Every day..... They fight with the crows in the yard too. There are some days I whip out a snack, pull up a chair and watch out the front window to see who wins! It's a territorial fight, nothing to horrible. There are also days I go out the back door to get to my car because I feel like walking through the front is dangerous. 

But those minor annoyances weren't enough to detour our affection for our birds. That breaking point came today when my sister and I discovered one of the three kid birds perched on the side mirror of my mom's car, just sitting there looking at itself, pooping all down the side of the car, and scratching the side and glass of the window. The bird was so distracted by the mirror it didn't notice my sister and I pass the car, and when it finally did, it just turned it's head and turned back to the mirror. Normally they fly away when they see us. I spent the better part of the morning trying to figure out,

A) why the bird was perched in front of the side mirror of my moms car 

B) how to break the news to my mom that her car is being continuously pooped on and scratched by a bird. 

The internet had a solution for me! It turns out this is a common occurrence in suburban america if you have a car in the drive way. What is really happening is the bird thinks it's reflection is another bird, and they are trying to socialize/hit-on the "other bird." Our car is not the first victim of this tragic bird confusion either. The only credible solution I have found is to put those cone shaped cardboard birthday hats on each mirror to block it. That sounds silly to me, and would probably look silly to passer-byers. But I would hate to let this bird stupidity continue. 

What to do about Our Birds.....