Thursday, April 16, 2009

My Owly Protector

See my protector? After my phone conversation with the County Extension Office yesterday, I went out and hired an owl. He agreed to work for free, dangling from my window by duck tape.


Look at what the Cedar Waxwings did to a corner of my window frame! You can't quite see it, but if you look directly under the owls eye, toward the inside of the window, you'll see a hole bored into the frame. And then all that chipped and chewed up part of the wood is also from The Birds. There was some paint chipping prior to their attack, but not anywhere near this much!



My friend, Claudette, said that Cedar Waxwings like to eat mock crabapples and can get drunk, will hang upside down on branches, fall to the ground, stumble around etc. Sometimes they line up on a branch, and pass the fruit to the back of the line until everyone gets a piece of it.

No sign of them today, but I know it wasn't just Tuesday that they were around, but it was the day they were the most numerous and relentless (about 50 to 75 in my yard!)

I'd like my house to stop being under attack, now, for awhile. . . not by air (birds), sea (flood water), land (EXCEL exploding plastic gas lines) or even any hauntings, should that occur next.

17 comments:

Sharon said...

Oh my!

1. I am laughing at you duct tape jery-rig.

2. Those waxwings are crazy!

3. 1. I am laughing at you duct tape jery-rig.

4. You can get drunk on crab apples! Oh man all those wasted years throwing them away.

5. I am laughing at you duct tape jery-rig.

pat said...

Love the watch-owl! I hope he does the trick!! I have never seen waxwings go after a house like that.

janett said...

Haha! I never knew! Hope your owl does the trick!

Michelle Duckworth said...

Very cleaver! LOL Duct tape is wonderful ain't it... it also keeps diapers shut in case you were wondering. Hope you owl works!

shirley said...

Did you give Mr. Owl a name? My DD would certainly call him Hedwig (big HP fan). He looks very business-like, although not so much hanging by that duct tape! Keep us posted....

Nicki said...

Love the duct tape - Owl is wondering what the heck he did to deserve being abducted from his cozy shelf at the store, duct taped to a window, and forced to stare at the damaged result of a drunken crab apple party he didn't even get invited to. On a serious note - glad you have (hopefully) a remedy to the birds.

Margaret said...

I hope your scary decoy owl does the trick. That intense stare scared me, so hopefully it will do the same to the evil waxwings!

Unknown said...

Cool shots

Lauren Hartman said...

Oh wow, those birds really did a number on your house, I'm sorry! I hope your owl does the trick, fingers crossed!

Meaghan said...

He's cute in an intimidating kind of way. I hope he works for you!

~JustJulie~ said...

Ooooh, I hope it works. We had a woodpecker late last summer. DROVE ME CRAZY!!!

Anonymous said...

Cool owl, I hope it helps! Great attitude about an annoying problem!

Jeanne said...

That owl's stare is so intense, it scares me, so hopefully it'll work on those birds. LOL Love the duct tape (was that your hubby's idea?)

Thanks for teaching me something about owls and birds today.

I'm not nearly as clever as some of your other fans, so I will giggle softly to myself as I exit stage left...

Reds said...

Hope the owl will help and you won't be attacked by birds anymore!

Amy said...

Okay, that duct tape set-up has me cracking up!!! I hope this works.

I'm not sure if I mentioned the other day, but we had major woodpecker issues at the house I just moved from. There was this woodpecker that just pecked and pecked and pecked and drove me nuts. He had two spots on the house where he just disasterized (sp?) the wood. We would bang on the wall from in the house right where he was and he'd wait a second and peck back, the nerve!

Gypsy Girl(Brenda) said...

You gotta love duck tape. I hope it works. BTW the photo of D is so sweet. She is such a pretty girl.

Suzy said...

Great owl! I hope he gets the job done!