Attacked by birds
Do I look intimidating? AT ALL?!
Maybe not intimidating, but scary in a sweaty “ew you need to take a shower” sort of way.
Apparently, I do, at least to the Red-winged Blackbird. Yesterday, during my 10-mile run (splits below) at my (and Tori’s!) favorite forest preserve, I was attacked by a bird FOUR TIMES.
The first time, I felt something latch onto my hair and thought “WTF was that?!” then saw the bird fly away. I laughed. The second time, the bird dive-bombed me and clipped my shoulder (no scratches). The third time was a dive bomb, but no contact.
And the fourth time was when I got pissed off. I was especially cautious to run far away from the birds, and even saw the bird watch me as I ran by. Once he was out of MY sight, he went for my hat and latched on and beat his wings against it. Of course, there was a family behind me witnessing the whole thing. I yelled “GAHHHHHHHHH!!!!” and kept running, but turned around and said to them, “This is the FOURTH time this has happened to me today!”
I didn’t see anyone else getting attacked, and there were A LOT of people there. I wonder if the birds were scared of my hat? I know these birds are very protective of their nests, but I felt like I was keeping a respective distance.
I feel like there should be some sort of boy scout/girl scout patches I earn every time I pass a running milestone. You know, milestones like running with a bloody toe, taking a crap in the forest, running in the pouring run, getting attacked by birds, etc. What other milestones am I forgetting?
Distance: 10.00 miles | Time: 1:32:48 | 1: 9:09 | 2: 9:20 | 3: 9:09 | 4: 9:13 | 5: 9:19 | 6: 9:12 | 7: 9:32 | 8: 9:09 | 9: 9:23 | 10: 9:17
Themocracy
Well, if one is afraid of sweat, then, yes, you’re horrifying!
You sound like an Alfred Hitchcock film. Can I just call you Tippy Hedron from now on?
LOL – I feel your pain! I’ve been attacked by red-winged blackbirds before as well, when I was walking by the lake. They are fiercely protective of their nests, it would appear…
Glad you made it out alive!
I am a little bit afraid of birds so this doesn’t make me feel good about running there anytime soon! Yikes! I wonder what was up with that. I do have to say that when we go to the beach there, the birds are very comfortable coming right up to us…I think because everyone feeds them. My 5 year old son gets freaked out by that and towards the end of last summer he didn’t even want to go because he was afraid the birds would “get him”. Hopefully he has forgotten about that for this summer!
I’m sorry but the image of the bird attacks cracks me up. Not sure why they were so drawn to you, but I wish you could have video taped the whole thing.
LOL Kim?! WTH?! That is redonkulous!!!! I wish you had a video! 🙂 Did it remind you of Venice??
Your pictures weren’t coming through on Reader, so I clicked through and SO glad…that bird photo, hilarious. funny, funny. But sorry, that would have scared me. alot.
10 miles? You are my running idol.
That is a bit creepy. My friend has a parrot who is allowed to fly around the house and she does dive bomb the people that she does not like, Not fun
I was absolutely terrified of ducks as a child after seeing The Birds and this just supports my irrational fears!
Be thankful it wasn’t a swan…those things are NASTY. My mom got her sweater eaten by one when she was a child!
Crazy bird! Maybe he thought your hat was a bluebird, lol, idk.
I had a friend who got attacked by a HUGE eagle-like bird in Colorado. It bloodied him up, too! You’d never think a bird would do that to a person…..so weird!
That’s so strange about the birds dive bombing you. Glad you didn’t get hurt! Congrats on another accomplishment. 🙂
I feel so bad, but HILARIOUS! I have yet to be attacked by a bird, but wow four times in one day, you’ve must of hit some sort of record!
You do deserve some sort of award for each time you surpass a running milestone. A co-worker who also does WW online and I were talking this morning about how we should get one of those charts they use in elementary school and gold stars, so that we can have a sticker each week we lose 😀 You can never be too old to get stickers and awards!
I’ve got one of those kid carriers you wear on your back, just train Data to ride in it and…OK maybe not
Hmmmm, I can’t think of any other running milestones off the top of my head. Maybe getting chased by a dog?
That is totally weird about the birds. I’ve never had them do that while running! At my parents house they had barn swallows that built a nest above their front door and a robin who built a nest next to the backdoor who would dive bomb you but never actually make contact. The birds would mostly just “yell” at you and fly really close.
No idea why you’d be the object of the birds’ attention… but hey it made for a great post 😀
Wow. Just… wow.
Kimmmmm…kimmmmmmmmm….let’s go to the Candyyyy Mountaiiinnnnn, said the Red-winged Blackbird as she tapped fervently on Kim’s hat.
omg, that is hilarious and TERRIFYING! i would have done a little freak-out dance on the spot.
uh, assuming i’d ever be in the position to be attacked by a bird during a 10 (!) mile (!!) run (!!!!!!!!!)
Oh my God….a bird attacked you…..four times??? The picture of the bird is too funny!!!
Just wanted to tell you I love your blog!!! I especially love the posts about Data : )
I’ve been following for awhile now….also see that you commented on my blog awhile back. Thanks for stopping!!!
I see that you ran the Wisconsin Half Marathon…..looks like it was a good one. I thought about doing that one but it didn’t work out with my schedule. Maybe next year!!!
Were you running in a loop? Because it sounds like it was the same bird, getting more and more fierce as you were seeming to threaten its nest and not learning your lesson.
I haven’t ever had that happen on a run so I definitely think you deserve a merit badge. My dad used to tell me about the red-winged blackbirds that would attack him as a kid when he took out the trash, so it must just be that species is tough when it thinks there are dangerous people around.
Love your bird caption.
That happened to my boyfriend a while ago and he is still scared to death every time he goes running in that area that he’ll be attacked.
Oh no! I’d have been apologizing for my not so nice language…
That’s crazy. I’m glad it wasn’t too traumatizing for you.
I used to walk around a lake when I lived in Tallahassee which had muskovy ducks. They were HUGE. I’d hear this flapping behind me, and when I’d turn I’d see a 3 ft wingspan heading my way. Freaked me out. Always kept as clear of them as possible.
Geez. I see red-wing blackbirds a lot in Champaign. I’m glad that none have dive-bombed me yet. They were probably just jealous of your intense running since all they can do is fly. Yeah…lame sauce!
I’m sorry Kim, I really am; but this might just be the funniest thing that I’ve read all day and I visited the LOLcast!
LMAOROF
Kimberly I was reading Attacked by Birds, post when Grandma Pete called me so I read it to her. She laughed the whole time I was reading. She thinks you shoud wear the exact same outfit run the same area and have Steven stand by with the video camera . She also suggested you carry a badminton racket when you run.
Call it the “Hitchcock Patch”!
Ok, I laughed out loud on this one. Your bird caption was perfect.
I’ve never been attacked by a bird, but our older cat used to get pecked by the magpies. Had to shoe them off many times.
kapgar – Ha! And I didn’t even think I was that sweaty that day 😉
jenny – It’s funny at first, right? Just at first though…
tori – I went back on Sunday and they were totally chill! Maybe it was just that weekend? I hope your son forgot too. Independence Grove is too nice not to visit!
Beth – Ha! I am happy you liked the image. A video would be good!
christina – Ha ha! It somewhat reminded me of Venice. Definitely not as fun as Venice! At least there you knew why the birds wanted to be near you!
Hotch Potchery – Ha ha. Thanks, and thanks 🙂
Christina – WTH? Now that would freak me out!
diane – Wow! I will remember to stay away from swans! I didn’t realize they were so aggressive!
Amy – Wow. Now I feel lucky I got out untouched.
sizzle – Thanks 😀
Scale Warfare – Ooo! Maybe I should enter the Guinness Book of World Records? (Is that what it is called?) I love stickers and stuff like that for crossing milestones. It makes you feel accomplished and keeps you motivated!
dad – I like the way you think 😉
Erin – Oh yeah ,chased by a dog or jumped on by a dog! So I wonder if this is common behavior for most birds when a human is near their nest? Note to the birds: quit building your nests near the humans!
*lynne* – Exactly. Ha ha!
Etta – That is what I was thinking.
Gina (Mannyed) – LOL! Do you think they were sent by Charlie’s friends? HA HA HA.
Alice – Ha ha. It could happen anywhere! Watch out! 😉
nancypants – Thanks 🙂 I am happy you like my Data posts, because I feel a bit silly writing them sometimes, but I love it! The Wisconsin Half was great! You should definitely do it if it works out for you next year!
Jen – There are many paths, so it wasn’t exactly a loop, but I did pass the same spot 3 times (about 25 mins apart each time). That must be what caused it! Oh man. I would be upset if it happened when I was taking out the trash! That is already an awful enough task as it is!
Emma – It has definitely made me more aware!
Nat – Yeah, I was happy I passed the family with kids first, BEFORE the bird attack. Otherwise those kids would have been learning some new words!
claire – Oh gosh. If it was a big bird like that, I would be running away, hard!
Mica – LOL! You crack me up. Ha ha ha.
DeAnne – I am happy you liked it 😛
mom – The racket is a good idea. You guys really want to see a video, don’t you? Jeez! 😛
E – Ha ha!
martymankins – Thanks 🙂 The magpies bothered your cat? How weird!