Adolescent Bird
“HONK! HONK, honk, HONK!!!” bellows my Kia’s surprisingly forceful horn. Damn birds! Are they trying to get themselves ran over? I felt like shaking my fist at them, but I figured the display of anger would be lost on such a tiny brained creature. “Are they suicidal? Is it just me or have you noticed a change in birds behavior? Seems like every bird feeding off the road has either grown a very large pair, decided to play chicken with the cars, or has a desire to end their small insignificant life.” At this point I seemed as crazy as the feather brained fluff bags, talking out loud as if to a nonexistent passenger. I just brushed it off as normal thing everyone does from time to time and continued the conversation, although I did move it inside my head.
Since no human has found a verifiable way to communicate with our fine feathered friends, I was forced to draw my own conclusions as to why the recent changes in road side conduct. The many different scenarios I concocted in my mind were as farfetched as they were varied. The mind can be a very entertaining place if granted judgment free freedom. Just as I reached the pinnacle of implausibility, I turned the corner near my home. Yet another disturbance in my driving experience. “HONK! HONK, honk, HONK!!!” bellows my Kia’s surprisingly forceful horn, again. Damn kids! No, I’m playing, I didn’t honk at them. I wanted to, but refrained. If it wasn’t in my neighborhood I most likely would have, but since these kids would have seen which house I pulled into and could have creative freedom over my car from the hours of 9 PM till 5 AM, I thought it best to display patience. So while waiting for the lovely pre-pubescents to meander across the street, it hit me.
What if all those birds that play in the street, annoying us drivers, being somewhat dim-witted, were just young and testing their boundaries? I remembered back to my days of teenage entitlement and wonder how I never got hit by a car or mowed down by an SUV. “I’m the pedestrian” I’d protest, “I have the right-of-way” never mind the fact that I was walking down the center of the street. I think as adults, knowing that’s a normal growing up phase or process, we allow a certain amount of tolerance when we encounter such insolence. But has anyone ever stopped to think maybe the same should be allotted to the animal kingdom as well. Birds have a great way of hiding their age, until their feathers start to thin up top, we just can’t tell whether they are 5 months or 5 years old. I’m just saying, and maybe this applies to me more than anyone else, the birdies deserve some respect too. Not to mention in Utah, birds have the right-of-way on the highway; it’s the law. Look it up. Next time you see Ferdinand crossing the street, just stop and allow it to happen with a calm and courteous attitude. You never know, one day when they decide to reenact Hitchcock’s The Birds, your life may be spared. You never know, you just never know.
Filed under: Everyday life | 1 Comment
Very nice.