Bird karma
A horrible thing happened on my drive home from the race on Sunday.
I was driving along, feeling happy about running with Bobbi, looking forward to seeing Steven when I got home and thinking about how nice it would be to have the sun out for softball practice when… BAM!
Out of nowhere (really, out of the east, my left) a bird tried to fly in front of my car. Emphasis on try. He didn’t make it. I heard a loud thud as he hit the right side of the windshield and for whatever reason, I decided to look in my rear view mirror, to which I see the bird arch up in to air then land on the ground behind me.
I really wish I hadn’t seen that.
I felt like crying. But I was too dehydrated. So I just drove home with a sad face, trying to figure out how to fix my “bird karma.”
I immediately filled up the bird feeders when I got home. And felt a little better.
But now they are watching me. They know what I did.
Birds keep coming really close to the windows, fluttering there for a minute, then flying away. Staring at me. JUDGING ME. Plotting against me.
The other critters are no help.
I’m afraid to go outside.
What do I have to do to be forgiven?!?!
Ha ha, okay, I am trying to make this humorous to make myself feel better. I am a big animal lover (you know, the whole vegan thing) and stuff like this really gets to me. But! Sharing it makes me feel better. Even though it’s kind of an awful story.
Are you more likely to share a “awful” story because sharing it will make you feel better? Or, to keep it to yourself?
Despite what I wrote about not being close with (most of) my coworkers*, I am actually a huge sharer. Er, oversharer, if you will. I am likely to share good or bad stories** (and I mean bad stories like the one above – not badly told – that would describe most of my stories).
And why share them? Well, it feels good to get things off my chest. And it makes me feel better when people relate. Yeah, kind of a selfish reason to dump on someone. But, a huge benefit of blogging is sharing something** and having people say, “hey, me too!” or “I’ve been there!” I don’t blog because I think I am special/doing unique things, I blog to remind myself I am normal***. Ha! And how do I do that? When people relate in the comments.Um, but not that I really want to read your stories about hitting animals by accident with your vehicle… hmm. Oops. Maybe just tell me how much you love animals too. Yeah. That!
*The not sharing with (again, most of my) coworkers is a learned reaction, based on comments received in the past.
**But I have to be honest – I try to keep most of the bad, crappy feelings off the blog.
***Okay, okay, or that there are many other “weirdos” like me! Ha!
Themocracy
That would really upset me too! A bird flew into my slider and died last summer and I had to wait for Rory to get home to scoop him up and bury him because it made me too sad to it myself.
That is definitely something you need to share with your significant other… and make them take care of 😉
I have an almost horrible but happy ending bird story from a couple weeks ago. I was driving home after dropping off the kids at school, and this bird flew right in front of my grill…it didn’t feel like I hit him (no loud thud) but I didn’t see him after that. BUT all this bird poop flew up and hit my windshield. I thought that was strange. Then I slowed down to turn into our subdivision AND THE BIRD FLEW AWAY!
I literally scared the sh*t out of him. He’d been trapped against the grill. I was so happy he was ok!
You did scare it out of him! Man, that is crazy he was okay. Sometimes you see them in front of your car and wonder where the hell they went. I am happy your story had a happy ending! 🙂
I hit a squirrel when I was 20. It ran under my car as I was driving. I sobbed for a while, so I totally get it 🙁 I still get upset thinking about it and it’s been 10+ years. I’m sorry for both you and birdie.
We are one in the same. I still think about an animal Steven couldn’t avoid hitting on a drive from 5+ years ago. 🙁
I would be upset, too. There are very few animals that I would want to be responsible for killing. As you are a vegan, I will not share what I said to Mark when I saw a raccoon in the yard.
My bird story: I was running before volunteering at the GOTR thing, and I was maybe a quarter-mile in. Maybe. I had on my Nuun trucker hat to protect my face. I say that because of what happens next. A bird flew into the back of my head and I could feel the beak come through the mesh and touch my scalp. OMG. I am so flippin’ afraid of birds that I screamed like a banshee and took off. I just googled it and the bird was a red-winged blackbird. Blech.
Thank you for not sharing 😉
Ha! The red winged black birds strike! I have had lots of encounters with them. That is the type of bird in the “soon” picture. It’s a good thing you had a hat on. And I bet that didn’t help you not be afraid of birds!
ugh!! I can see how that would upset you! The rest of the pics in the post really are quite comical!!
Thanks 😉
Normal is SO overrated… But venting usually helps me. 😉
I wrecked my car on an icy road once trying to avoid what I thought was a cat (turned out to be a raccoon). That was pretty stupid. I could’ve killed myself.
A couple years later I did hit a cat. Couldn’t avoid it, traffic was coming from the other direction… Not sure if it was a pet or not, but there were no houses in the immediate area, so I didn’t know what to do, except feel terrible.
I’m hoping the fact that I wrecked a car for a raccoon brought me enough good karma to erase hitting the cat…
I don’t think it did. I think you need to go adopt a buddy for Dozer 😉
That would make it worse! I had to promise the nice rescue lady that I would never get another cat because Dozer HATES other cats… He will try to kill any other cat he sees, according to what I was told.
Loves people, hates cats…
Kind of the opposite of his owner in that regard. 😉
I will refrain from telling you another, “Yes, we hit an animal, too” story because I’m not sure that additional upsetting stories will make you feel better, but rest assured that many of us have them. It is almost unavoidable with humans living among animals. And it is natural to be upset about it. I recommend not watching Hitchcock’s The Birds this week.
Yes, I share “bad” stories too to make myself feel better. I really can’t keep that stuff bottled up. I actually think you are special and unique in the best possible ways. 🙂
Thank you for not telling it 🙂 It does make me feel worse. LOL! I was thinking about that after I hit him… that it’s unavoidable, but sucky that so many man made things cause harm to animals. Ha! I have seen that movie. Yeah, I won’t watch it this week.
I am happy I am not the only one who has to get it out.
LOL!!! Thanks 😉 :-*
I was out running one day and there was a squirrel ahead of me on the sidewalk. When he spotted me he ran into the street to get away and was hit by a car. I felt awful! Now if I spot a squirrel ahead of me I slow down so it can make a safe escape.
Oh man! I would feel so awful too! That is a good thing to keep in mind – I never would have thought of that.
Sharing definitely helps me feel better too.
Are all those photos of birds around your house taken SINCE the tragic event on Sunday? I think filling the bird feeder was a step in the right direction 😉
I let CB chase a red winged black bird a month ago and now when I’m on the lakefront I feel their beady little eyes staring at me, buring a hole through me while they plot their attack.
Ha ha ha! Only two of them are actually current (the first one and the one of judgy Data). The rest are stock photos from my house. MY BLOG IS FULL OF LIES!!!! But the birds are visiting. This really cool one came and I have never seen it’s type before! That was exciting.
THEY REMEMBER!!!!!
I’ve cried after hitting animals with my car. I really think sharing helps. People will comfort you and say “It wasn’t your fault”, which we already know, but still feels better. I hit a goose once. How awful is that?! Hitting an animal is the WORST!
I don’t think they’re coming to get you. They’re just happy you put out food 😉
Oh gosh! That is awful! But they are always all over the road 🙁
Hee hee. I AM STILL WORRIED! jk 😉
My fiance still makes fun of me because I called him in tears after I hit a squirrel one time. We still joke that he didn’t die and that special Fred is still running around, but he just has to wear a helmet now!
Buah ha ha. Okay. THAT is cracking me up 😉
Birds try to fly through the windows in my office building all the time! Usually they’ll just flutter by the glass and then realize they can’t go through and fly away but once in awhile I’m startled by really loud thuds. And then last week I heard a noise, turned around, and saw two massive hawks right on the other side of the glass. Eek!
Holy cow! Hawks? Wow. I bet they don’t have the crash and death window problem. That must have been freaky!
Wow they are watching you!
In the winter I remove our window screens. It helps let more light into the house. Since we live in a raised ranch our windows in our main living area are at tree height and there are usually a couple of bird marks on our living room and dining room windows, sometimes there are little feathers stuck on the glass!! Since we are away from the house during the day working, we generally don’t hear them hit, but obviously sometimes it happens on weekend! Bang – oh dang, another bird!
i always get sad when we hit an animal. one time my brother an i were driving back from a camping trip with my parents and we hit a possum in the worst way. it was traumatic. i still haven’t fully recovered.
Oh man! The birds! They’re out to get you! This post made me laugh but I totally get why it’s bugging you…I am the same way. I regularly move bugs I find in the house back outside on a slip of paper, if that makes you feel any better, Kim.
I do that with bugs, too. That does make me feel better 🙂
Hahaha! I sure hope the birds forgive you! One time I ran over a squirrel (totally by accident, I swear!) but I felt really bad. I don’t know why, since they are so destructive! And they love to terrorize my dog.
Oh poor bird. I’d feel the same way. Robins built a nest right up on our porch this year and of course I let them. I was so bummed when they vacated after one of our heavy rains.
I once hit a turkey. It was the worst ever.
But even worse…my mom once hit a turkey on Thanksgiving!!!!
I already have bad bird karma and I don’t think I’ve hit one. A red winged blackbird swooped at me while I was riding my bike and I crashed when I was like 12. I still dislike them! I also dislike Canadian Geese because one chased me while I was running! They are scary!
but I am trying to reverse my bad karma. There is a robin’s nest out on my patio area with baby birds. So every time I see the momma bird I say, “hello momma bird”.
Aww! I bet that momma bird tells all the other birds how sweet you are and everything will be right in the world once again 🙂
I hit an owl coming home in the middle of the night. He was sitting in the middle of the road and before I knew it…I ran over him. I felt awful!! The next day when I got up for work I took the same road (only road actually) and I saw the remains. That was years ago and I still feel terrible!!!!
But seriously, what was an owl doing in the middle of the highway? Don’t they belong in a tree or something???
There must have been some good prey on the road, so… circle of life? :-/
The birds are watching you… i admit to laughing every time I see the talk bubble in the photo above.
I hit a bird with my car once. Or rather it hit me. Got stuck under the front wheel well. I felt bad, but it’s just what happens when cars and birds are in the same area a lot. I only told the story for the first few days, then put it away once I figured people might tire of it.