I feel like Tippi Hedren in The Birds; they're attacking me

[diverdan]

I see all sorts of posts related to "attacking", but none like this. One of my birds is attacking me! I've had the same Martin house in Carrollton, TX for almost ten years, but in the last few weeks, one male attacks me almost anytime during daylight hours when I step out from under my patio cover into the back yard, within a couple of minutes.

I've posted a short video on YouTube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioHVIbbG ... load_owner

I asked for replies in the comments for most YouTube users, but PMCA members can reply here.

Has anyone else seen this behavior?

My neighbor said he had no such problem. My thoughts are to experiment. I have white hair and I've worn black T-shirts since it started. I'll try wearing a cap and a white shirt and see what happens.

Any other ideas? Thanks for any help.

[JJ Jones]

It's been several years ago, but I had a female swoop pretty close to my head anytime I got within 20 ft of my gourd line. I also had a female tree swallow do exactly the same thing. However, I've never had a male do it. That is interesting. He must be an assistant to the "Lone Ranger".

[diverdan]

The only female I've known to make a similar sound can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCwEAmBuuZ4

[~Ray~Gingerich]

I have one that's very aggressive, he swoops down at me and sometimes gets so close I can feel his wings brush my hair when he sails by. Funny thing is, that when I bring out the egg/mealworm mix and crickets he behaves himself.I can stand near his rack when I flip the food and never had him come after me while I'm doing that Strange.

[Louise Chambers]

Most of the martins are pretty congenial birds, but every now and then, you'll run across one that's very aggressive about its nest. I had a female that yelled and strafed me every time I went outside. But they won't do a bit of harm, and just wearing a hat or sticking your arm up over your head will keep them a bit further away.

[Matt@atx]

I watched the vid. I call it dive bombing more than attacking. Thats pretty normal stuff. I get a few doing that too me when I get close to the gourds. Usually once they have babies in the nest.
Don't mind it one bit.

[diverdan]

Well, OK, sorta strafing but no ammo, which dive-bombing would be, and so far no deposits in my hair. As the old joke goes:

I KNOW YOU'VE HEARD THIS ONE BEFORE
{one minor vulgarity; no fainting allowed, or stop reading now]

A man went to Africa to do some game hunting. While there, he hired a boy to accompany him as his guide. Soon, a large flock of foo birds flew overhead and as he took aim, one dropped a load onto his face.

He reached up to clean his eyes, but the guide said, "if you wipe the foo crap from your eyes, you will die.

The man figured that was only a superstition of the locals and he wiped the crap from his eyes.

And he died.

The moral of this story is "If the foo craps, wear it."

I'll test the cap/white shirt thing when I find time soon.

[diverdan]

And you know this is a mommieblog, because the word I used makes sense of "If the foo craps, wear it." You want explicit? If the shoe fits, wear it. Crap is good and sh*t is bad? Gimme a break.

[DebA]

Huh? You get grief for your post? Well I enjoyed sidelining with your little joke. The antics of the PM are so fun. I'm interested in how your experiment goes.

Oh...did the forum change your word? Thats happened to me too. I was calling sparrows a bad name starting with a B and it changed it to parentless.
Deb

[Buckizig]

Diverdan, Have the same scenario here. Had a pair of tree swallows that deposited their kids droppings in my pool. Had to move their gourd to new location as to change their flight pattern. She is quite irate and is more aggressive than the male pm that takes a run at me too. I guess I'll try a hat too!