Every afternoon, when I go to town and return home, I notice a congregation of birds sitting on the power lines in front of the prison. Hundreds of birds. Perhaps a thousand. Just regular birds, like sparrows. They are not on the other wires in town, or in the country.
On my way home, I was wondering WHY those birds sit there. And all at once, PLOP! Some bird poop dropped right onto T-Hoe's windshield, exactly in front of my eyes. Not somewhere I could avoid looking at. But right there, where I had to look through it! Almost as if it was on cue, the second that thought popped into my head!
Lucky for me, it was not a chunky poop. Mostly liquid. So I turned on T-Hoe's window washing function, and swiped that mess off before the air dried it on the glass.
Sweet Gummi Mary! Why would one of those birds fly off the wire, spread its feathered, not-so-ample rumpus, and drop poop on T-Hoe??? That has never happened before.
I have since consulted my estranged BFF Google to see why birds like to sit on power lines. I found no satisfactory answer. The excuse seeming to be that they can sit high up, away from predators, and survey the ground for feeding purposes. I call shenanigans! Why would hundreds of birds want to compete with each other for food, when they can go off on their own and get it without a struggle?
This does not explain why all those birds choose that very wire to sit on, eschewing others that overlook more fertile fields.
Possibly someone in the prison yard is allowed to throw breadcrumbs at a certain time and the birds are waiting for it?
ReplyDeleteShame about the windshield splotch though.
River,
ReplyDeleteI don't even know if they have an actual "yard" at this prison. If so, it's behind the buildings, and the birds have their backs to it! It's a pretty secure place, where they hold executions, and block all entrance roads at those times with many guards and vehicles. The birds sit on the wires out front along the main road to town.
At least the splotch washed off with my quick reaction as soon as I got around the sharp curve.
Why, indeed! My luck, the cleaner fluid for the wipers would have been empty and I would have successfully smeared it all over the driver's side of the windsheild. HeWho loves to "clean the windsheild" as soon as he is seated and the engine is on. He will pump that thing dry in just one trip. He keeps a gallon on hand in his truck. He likes a clean windsheild, apparently, but the rest of his world can be grimy.
ReplyDeleteKathy,
ReplyDeleteFarmer H should take a lesson from HeWho. He acts like windshield wipers are made of delicate gossamer, and must not be used because they can never be replaced! He won't even turn them on when rain is sluicing down. "I can see just fine," he says. A jug of washer fluid could last him the life of the car.