I'm not normally bothered by the death of small furred or feathered creatures, keeping cats as I do, but I was struck by the pathos of an incident the morning. I was lying in bed reading[1] this morning when I caught a slight movement out of the corner of my eye and heard a thud as something hit the window (french door). Nothing moved for a minute or two, so I got up to have a look and saw a Robin lying there, on its back, legs in the air, completely motionless. About three feet away is another robin, presumably its mate, sitting there going 'cheep cheep' as it waits for the first one to join it. I left it for another minute or two, then opened the door to retrieve it, in case it was just unconscious but in danger of dying if it lay in the snow at -6C for very long. Sadly it was dead, so after I'd given up on it and put it in the kitchen bin I came back to bed, to see the other robin still sitting outside calling. Stayed there, on and off, for at least the half hour until I got up. Rather poignant, I felt. [1] The Silmarillion, as it happens. -- _______ ..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) \`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing) `\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10 `\|/` `
No need for a bow and arrow then. IIRC robins don't mate for life and they may be time to find another mate. Anyway they are used to a bit of nature red in tooth and claw. "Each robin then attempts to pin its rival to the ground. The victor rains blows down on the vanquished bird's head particularly around the eyes even blinding or killing it." -- +-------------------------------------------------------------+ | Pete Fisher at Home: | | Voxan Roadster Gilera Nordwest Yamaha WR250Z | | Gilera GFR Moto Morini 2C/375 | +-------------------------------------------------------------+
British or European? As an aside, the American Robin has a rather childishly amusing name, Turdus migratorius. As long as it only migrates in a southerly direction that's fine, eh?
Dunno. How'd I tell the difference? These ones look like all the others we get around (lots, as you can imagine in our garden) and also like the ones I used to see in the UK. Heh. -- _______ ..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) \`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing) `\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10 `\|/` `
I'm not sure there is a difference. However, the American Robin is more like a thrush with a red breast. Like this, in fact: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Robin As I said above, being a thrush, it will be in the genus Turdus. <mode=schoolboy> *snigger* Quite.
I work in a 6 floor building completely made out of glass on the coast. While sitting outside having a fag in the summer over a copy of the Times crossword with ones steaming Darjeeling on stand-by it's not uncommon to have a huge seagull not notice that it's complete made of glass and smash into it at full speed. Some explode, some go bang and drop down to the bottom dead and some drop down, wobble around for a bit and then fly off. The ones that wobble around for a bit and then don't fly off cause a bit of an inconvenience as someone has to stay with it until the RSPCA comes along or the company cat comes along to finish it off.
Damn. Missed that, although I thought of it when recounting the story to the missus a short while ago. -- _______ ..'_/_|_\_'. Ace (brucedotrogers a.t rochedotcom) \`\ | /`/ GSX-R1000K3 (slightly broken, currently missing) `\\ | //' BOTAFOT#3, SbS#2, UKRMMA#13, DFV#8, SKA#2, IBB#10 `\|/` `
<dead Robin> You heartless bastard. If you'd only had the decency to live without glass in your windows another little creature would be alive and well today.
The federal reserve bank Building in Dallas Texas is like that. They have someone make rounds to collect the bodies.
Or even better, thick clear rubber. You could watch the birds fly in to it, then watch them as they got thrown back the way they came.
Went to collect oldest daughter from the train station a while back, last train, late, dutiful parent doing taxis run for visiting lass. The station is the end of the line for fast trains coming from London. While waiting on the platform I noticed just in front of the buffers a lot of feathers and pheasant wings. Wandering over to the station masters office I asked why they were there. "The pheasants get collected on the front of the fast trains on the way up from London." said the station master, "The bodies only get to drop of here when the train gets to the end of the line, as they need a while to get unstuck as it were." "How come there are only wings and feathers?" I asked. The station master beckoned me into his office and pointed to a very large round cat in the corner. "He knows when the fast trains come in and waits between the buffers!" The cartoon style imagery that came to mind of this fat cat waiting with its' mouth open for a pheasant to drop in, had me smiling all the way home.
