# A freaking bird attacked me!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 16, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378 "2002-06-16T17:10:53Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2002, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378/1 "2002-06-16T17:10:53Z")
The last two times I cut the grass a bird has attacked me when I get near this tree. Its an all black bird with orange on its wings. Basically I want to either kill it or scare it away, suggestions?
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### Author:  [@andy\_fl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andy_fl)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2002, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378/2 "2002-06-16T17:13:45Z")
It has babies/eggs near the tree and is trying to save them. I plead for the bird’s life - please spare it - if you can. It does,nt take long for the babies to grow up.
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### Author:  [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2002, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378/3 "2002-06-16T17:19:54Z")
Blue Jays will attack anything that gets close to their nest too.
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### Author:  [@Visual\_Purple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Visual_Purple)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378/4 "2002-06-16T17:48:10Z")
The bird you describe is a male red-winged blackbird. They **do** defend nest areas aggressively. I’ve had one on a bike path near me actually brush through my hair. I’d recommend eye protection in the area of the nest --something you probably should use while mowing anyway.
Hey, it takes guts to go after something that much larger than you.
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### Author:  [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2002, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378/5 "2002-06-16T17:51:02Z")
Please don’t hurt the bird! It’ll move on before too long, please don’t hurt it!
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### Author:  [@LolaCocaCola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LolaCocaCola)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2002, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378/6 "2002-06-16T17:52:14Z")
Speaking of birds that attack, may I just say that Magpies are EVIL!
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### Author:  [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378/7 "2002-06-16T19:07:38Z")
What’s the legal status of red-winged blackbirds? Protected? Protected on the ground? Free to remove as a nuisance?
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### Author:  [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2002, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378/8 "2002-06-16T19:44:33Z")
This is actually common behavior for _several_ species of birds (as **Visual Purple** noted, you are being harassed by a male red wing blackbird):
- \*\* Mockingbirds \*\*are particularly famous for aggressively protecting their nest. They will chirp, loudly, and dive-bomb anything that comes within what they consider a threatening radius of their nest. Unlike some species, they will actually _hit_ you. There have been several clips on funny video shows displaying this–one, of a cat that did a complete back flip when tagged by a mockingbird, won $100,000!
- \*\* Ducks \*\*(mallards, in this case) will quack, LOUDLY, open their beaks and _hiss_ if you are too close. If you come upon them when the ducklings are out and about, and the female thinks you are a threat to them, she will fake a broken wing, hobble off, trying to distract you from the little 'uns. She of course would fly off the moment her ducklings are safe. (I’ve seen this personally.)
- Even\*\* hummingbirds\*\* do this. Recently the hubby and I were in the garden section of Target. While walking through the pots and soil section, a female hummingbird buzzed down right in front of us and hovered, chirping loudly, and zoomed back and forth a few feet in front of us for a good minute or two. I told the hubby, who was perplexed by the odd behavior, “There must be a nest nearby.” Sure enough, when she realized we weren’t interested in eating little hummingbirds, we watched her zoom up to an overhead light fixture where her tiny nest (with just one fledgling housed in it) was. I believe she may have been trying to bait us into chasing her to lead us away from her little, _little_ one.
**manhattan** , best I could find out about red-winged BBs is that they are “abundant to common in fields, riparian thickets and scrub, freshwater, and brackish marshes.” Regarding conservation: “Vulnerable to pesticides in food chain and habitat loss due to the drainage of wetlands. Nests and young are destroyed by moqing operations.” _from Birds of North America, 2002_
This text typically specifies when an animal is protected. As there is no mention–and as common as they are–I would assume they are not. “Free to remove as a nuisance” I’m not so sure about, however–you’d want to contact Animal Control in your area to find out for sure.
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### Author:  [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2002, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378/9 "2002-06-16T22:59:08Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by treis \*
> \*\*The last two times I cut the grass a bird has attacked me when I get near this tree. Its an all black bird with orange on its wings. Basically I want to either kill it or scare it away, suggestions? \*\*
Wear you bicycling helmet and grit your teeth. The bird will stop this as soon as the nest is empty.
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [June 16, 2002, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-freaking-bird-attacked-me/114378/10 "2002-06-16T23:45:44Z")
Be glad that it is a little bird and not a Canada Goose.
And please do not hurt the bird.