As I said in yesterday’s post, the elk up on our land are wild enough to run from Andy. But years ago there was a creature that repeatedly tried to attack him — a fearless, but not too bright, grouse.
He was too small to do any harm, but he was nuisance. My husband could easily have stomped him, but instead he tried to discourage the bird by soaking him with water from a hose. The grouse declared a temporary truce… he went over and sat on a log in the sun until he dried off.
Then he resumed the battle, so my husband got a broom and kept whisking him away whenever he attacked. He finally got the message and never did it again. He did follow my husband around, though, carefully watching him from a safe distance. When my husband went down into our underground well house he could hear the grouse strutting around on the roof. And the best part of the story was when my husband was driving down the road for home one day. He looked in his side mirror and saw the grouse triumphantly chasing our 3/4-ton truck out of “his” territory.
He was only around one season — we’re afraid he may have tangled with someone not as nice as Andy.
So it’s not just we humans who are crazy.
March 24, 2014
The only animals that go for me are other people’s over-curious dogs, sniffing and nuzzling me. The owners are always apologetic, but maybe they could train their dogs to keep to themselves? No grouse or elks in Northern Ireland, as far as I know.
Yes, the owner’s should train their dogs. But at least they’re not aggressive or jumping on you.
Amazing!
Agreed! We’re still laughing about it.
What a cute, funny, crazy grouse. Love this story.
Yes. 😀
mocking birds are very aggressive here in the spring. if you unwittingly walk too close to where they nest…
they will swoop down and literally almost peck your head. rather frightening!
I had a humming bird peck at my neck when I was wearing perfume.
hummingbird
I had a bird that would dive bomb me when I went out once. It was before we left Ithaca and I would go up to the roof to look around, mentally say goodbye. I clearly had set myself up as a threat. It had a good memory, because I never went up to the roof again.
I had a hummingbird come straight up to my face when I was sitting on the deck one morning. I had slept up on the land the night before, and it was absolutely quiet. So the noise made me jump. It decided I wasn’t food, so it buzzed away.
I seem to recall there are birds in NZ that will dive bomb attack at certain times of the year – and of course if you hear a bird going to town, you know there is a cat lurking…
Apparently cats kill billions of birds each year. It’s sad. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/29/cats-wild-birds-mammals-study/1873871/