Sometimes Persistence is Just Silly

An unseasonably warm March is upon us.  A time of year that usually gives us our last great snow storm of the season has instead come with summerlike sunshine and confused birds. Yes, I'm talking about the robin who stars in the above video. We have lived in this house for three years and the robins take up residence every spring.  The first year they nested in that cedar tree in front of the window, the year after that they made a home above our exterior light, last year in the small pine tree beside our driveway. This year apparently they've decided to build their home in our living room.  Unfortunately there's a pesky window in the way.  This is more than a run of the mill "oops I thought that was thin air". This bird is persistant. It has been crashing into that bay window over and over, all day long, since Thursday.  It is making the dog crazy.

In an effort to discourage the bird, my offspring and I have plastered the window with artwork. I hoped that having something on the glass would let the creature know that yes, there is something there, and no, you can't fly through it. Allow me my proud mama time and check out my personal favourites:

The above drawing, by Jadzia, depicts an elephant, a giraffe, a monkey, a dog and a cat, and a zebra (note the stripes).

This one is from William, who thought that the best way to scare the robin away would be to draw terrifying monsters, which this is. Look at all those legs and spikes!


William drew a few more monsters and Jadzia drew many more animals (mostly elephants). So our window now looks like this:



Definitely an improvement in a decor sense, but unfortunately has done nothing to deter our visitor.  The bird apparently has no fear of creatively drawn zoo animals or grinning monsters and continues systematically testing our forcefield for weak points. I admire this creature's bravery and persistence, but I question its motives.

A walk with the dog revealed that the neighbourhood is full of similarly dopey robins, who Worf has decided are the ememy. They are a little too slow to fly away and my loveable mutt came close to catching one or two (also came close to ripping my arm out of its socket from pulling the leash so hard). I suspect that the early spring means that these birds aren't yet old enough to be street wise.