You Thought A Bluejay Was Bad - 2006-07-13 21:38
A few years ago, my Mom benignly walked out of the house to get something from the car. Soon after the front door closed, I heard a loud squawking and then an even louder human screech. Of course, I was in my typical saturday afternoon position, watching college football in the living room, so it took me a second to get to the window. By the time I got there, Mom was already back in the house. I rushed over to find out what happened and she told me, “I was attacked by that blue jay! It ran right into my head!” Incredulous, Dad went out to see for himself. Not surprisingly, that same blue jay assaulted him too. It swooped down and just missed him. After Dad came back in, we saw the blue jay’s progeny hopping around just off the sidewalk. Ever since the incident I’ve teased Mom for being scared of a little birdie.
So, this past weekend I was down visiting some long lost Longwood friends living in beautiful Bumpass, VA, yeah I said it. I spent Saturday watching soccer and catching up with everyone at the cookout. After we capped the night off with a game of poker it was time to head out. The next morning, Carrie, Isaac, and I are caravanning to church because Isaac and I are heading straight home afterwards. Carrie is leading the way with me following on my motorcycle and Isaac bringing up the rear. We’re driving down route 33, a heavily forested road, with few other cars around. As we’re barreling down the highway I notice a bird in the forest off to the right. I didn’t pay any mind to it, just a catch and release thought. As I approach the bird, I notice it again as it begins to take off. At the same time, I notice some roadkill on the left side of my lane. I figure the bird was a buzzard about to scarf down a meal, I also figure it would wait for me to move on past. Apparently, I didn’t appropriately judge the bird’s hunger level. The bird did not seem to want to wait for it’s Sunday morning brunch. So, the bird and I are closing in on the same point in the air and I begin to worry. The bird is shoulder level and flying from my right to my left to get it’s feast. As it gets to me, I literally duck down to the left. My head is closer to my mirror than anything else at this point and the bird buzzes just over my head. If I hadn’t moved I’d have had a face full of what I thought was buzzard.
Twenty minutes later when we get to church and my insides are all back in their places, Isaac brings up the bird incident. He says to me, “I saw that raptor attack you!” Thinking he’s overstating a bit, I respond, “Well, I thought the buzzard was just heading to lunch with that roadkill.” He jumps in, “Well yeah, it looked like all that at first, but that was no buzzard, it was a hawk. And it started for the roadkill, but when you came racing into view, it pointed its talons right at you!”
I guess the moral of the story is don’t get between a blue jay and it’s baby or a hawk and it’s Sunday brunch. Brian, you’re up next.
i am glad you are blogging.
i am also glad that odd things happen to you that enable you to have something to blog about.
i was attacked by a turkey once.
Bluejay Story-
Moral of the story…. never make fun of you mother…. it’ll come back to haunt you!! Love, Mom
It’s hard to make it out of Bumpass ALIVE.