Redbird of Crappiness

 

by Pa Rock

Bird Whisperer

In the spring of 2019 I posted three separate pieces in this space about a pair of bluebirds who were showing a strange fascination with my car which I park outdoors behind the house.  They appeared to be wanting to build a nest either on the car or in the immediate vicinity, and Papa Bluebird was attracted to the rearview mirror on the passenger side of the car.  He stood on the small ledge beneath the car window looking at himself in the mirror for hours on end.  

Eventually Mama Bluebird disappeared, presumably to get on with building the nest in one of the several bluebird boxes that I have scattered about the farm.  Then, in the final post I found Papa Bluebird lying on his back dead in the backyard, possibly a victim of one of the cats who lived here at the time, though he had not been savaged nor eaten.  I buried him under a big pile of pine needles in the hope he would decompose and replenish the earth.

I liked watching those bluebirds flit around the car and the yard, though Papa pooping down the side of the passenger door while he admired his image in the mirror tended to get old!  

After they were gone, the poop problem went away.  During the next year I traded cars and my yard cat, Fiona, who produced three batches of kittens a year whether we needed them or not, was run over on the Indianapolis 500 which borders our little farm.   I gave the last batch of kittens away - and we were finished with cats.  The bird feeders in front of the house stayed busy while my newer car sat in the back unnoticed.  

Unnoticed until this week, that is.  Now I have a very persistent little Mama Redbird who sits next to the car passenger window admiring herself in the mirror, and, of course, pooping down the side of the car door while she chortles on about how beautiful she is.   I pulled into the back drive yesterday afternoon following a quick trip to town, and before I could even get out of the car, Mama Redbird was snuggled up close to window and staring at the mirror while she relieved herself.

I am beginning to think of bird poop down the side of a car as a metaphor for retired life in an idyllic country setting.  Maybe its time to bring in another cat!