Sunday, May 18, 2008

Who Shall Mourn the Mourning Dove?


The imprint of death

The lonely corpse, scavenged by ants

The crazy thing is, this couldn't be a case of Windex Syndrome. My blinds were closed.

Crazy Kamikaze Bird.


13 comments:

The Quoibler said...

Did you notify the next-of-kin?

Angelique

Anonymous said...

Those are so strange when they happen.

Last year when had a mourning dove do that, but break through the window. It lived. The window didn't.

SzélsőFa said...

In some places, black silhouettes of predator birds are stuck to windows. Those are supposed to frighten birds away.
Poor creature...

Sarah Hina said...

It's always so eerie to see those outlines. There's something kind of beautiful about it, though I feel guilty thinking that.

What a shame.

Beth said...

Omg, that's on your window? I've never seen that before, but yesterday I ran over a bird. I felt terrible and still do. The mother kept trying to feed it even after it's death. (I went back to make sure it was dead and not dying in pain) =(

Joni said...

Angelique - Ha. I think they've been notified. I've heard them mourning.

Jason - that is crazy. Is it a typical characteristic for these birds? So strange. I believe you that it broke your window. It sounded like a pipe bomb went off when it hit the window.

Szelsofa - So, either way, you're stuck with a bird on your window? I think I'll take my chances.

Sara - I know what you mean. It's kind of ethereal.

Beth - You ran over a bird? As in, it just didn't get out of the way soon enough? I don't like the idea of animals being hurt, but I think your situation and mine are prime examples of Survival of the Fittest. Hello?

Aine said...

As Jason said, we've had one fly through the pane. But we also have many kamikazes (all sorts of birds, not just mourning doves). Sometimes they even leave feathers stuck to the window image. I'm not sure if it's because they think they can fly through from our back yard to the front, or if they are trying to land on the houseplants in the dining room window. Sometimes I feel guilty that I put the feeder near the dining room windows....

The worst part is that if I didn't move the corpse right away, our previous dog would make a beeline for it and have a feast. I used to cringe when she would come back to the door with feathers hanging out of her mouth.
:P

Hoodie said...

Aine - as for feathers stuck on the window, if you look closely, you can see one in the lower right hand portion of the mark in the picture.

This is my first time experiencing this phenomenon and I find it very strange. Clear windows I can understand, but what this bird was thinking I shall never know.

And I'm glad we don't have a dog.

Scott said...

That has to be one of the most amazing things I've seen in a while. Grimness aside, how cool is that?

Unknown said...

Oh I hate it when they do this. Our windows always have the imprint of dove death on them - and it's usually because the sparrowhawk has been hunting in the garden and the doves have flown off in a frenzy, not looking where they're going. It's so sad - though the sparrowhawk doesn't think so.

The Quoibler said...

An Ode to the Deceased:

I smacked my head
And now I'm dead
I should have just
Stayed home instead.

Beth said...

I came back just to see the picture and show my son. It really is amazing.

And yes, I ran over the bird. It just didn't move and no, I wasn't speeding or anything. Ack.

Hoodie said...

Scott, once the shock of the weirdness wore off, I did think it was a little cool. Especially because it was positioned exactly in the middle of the window.

Vanilla - Is that why that happens? I've been looking for a solution to the WhY question.

Angelique - Beautiful. I shed a tear.

Beth - I'm glad I'm garnering double visits. :)