I'm not afraid of birds, I just think they're creepy, unnatural beasts. With their beady little eyes, ability to fly, sharp beak thingies, and prehistoric scaly claw-feet, they just need to go back to Paleolithistan.
But today while on a walk with my dog Harper, he turned around to sniff a robin standing on the sidewalk. It weird that the bird hadn't moved when Harper walked up, so I pulled Harper back and got closer myself. The bird didn't look injured, but it didn't move even as I moved my hand close. Its eyes weren't alert and wide, but it was obviously looking right at me. And it just STOOD THERE.
I don't know if birds can have a "look" in their eyes. I swear I've seen a look of intent as they've bombed my car. But between the body posture of the bird, its lack of movement as we got close, and the look in its eyes, I felt bad for the bird. It honestly looked like it had lost its will to live and was just begging to be put out of its misery.
I walked away slightly disturbed. A few steps away I saw what might've been the reason for what I saw in the bird's eyes. A tiny, dead bird in the middle of the sidewalk.
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4 comments:
Your description of birds is right on. I used to work for the State Department of Wildlife and had to track down dead birds and swab them for West Nile Virus testing. Glorious job. I got to see birds up close and honestly don't think I've seen a difference between the "look" in a living bird's eyes vs. dead. You are much more in-tune.
thank you for destroying me for the rest of the day. /depression
@ilikewinter: Sounds like a pretty cool job, actually. Even though I hate birds, a job that lets me peruse the outdoors would be killer.
@bran: I didna mean ta destroy your day. It's a sad story, but I'm no bird reviver so I couldn't make it a happy story. Besides, the baby bird was pretty smashed. Oh, that doesn't help, does it?
The job was pretty awesome... once I started doing field work on a joint project with the Forest Service. I got to ride in an airboat all day and sleep in a bunk house; got $20 a day for food (so I bought all the organic expensive stuff- best perk) and basically trudged through the mud of Willard Bay trying to figure out how to trick birds into letting us capture them. It was, by far, my favorite job.
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