Friday, August 9, 2013

Can a bird die looking up at the sky?

I got a call tonight from the friend who lives across the street from me, wanting me to come over to see something.

The minute I stepped foot in her yard, she started whispering, and led me around to the side yard, where a robin was standing completely still, eyes open and unblinking, beak raised to the sky. She said it had been that way for quite some time. (Long enough, and then some, for her to call me, and for me to walk from my back yard to hers.) She said she'd gotten her binoculars to get a closer view, and it didn't appear to be making any breathing or blinking movements!

I quietly crept closer, squatting, took my iPhone out to snap a picture. At a distance of about two feet, it suddenly jumped, fluttered a few times, and hopped off into the bushes.

All very strange.

At what was it looking?

(And it really did appear to be dead.)


7 comments:

  1. Maybe it had something stuck in its throat!

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  2. It was obviously auditioning for a part in a British speciality... Stargazy Pie.

    LLX

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  3. Perhaps it had some Stargazy Pie stuck in its throat!

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  4. Maybe it was praying? Looking for a spouse? Waiting for a child to get home for the day? Looking at cloud pictures? Lost? Really, I have no idea but would like to!

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    1. Birdie, I love "looking at cloud pictures"!

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  5. my first thought was the one about something in its throat, but maybe it just fell asleep standing up. sp

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