I’m not the only guy to suffer an injury around the ol’ homestead this weekend. The little fellow pictured below flew headlong into the window on the east side at the rear of our house. He seemed to be stunned (beautiful plumage, eh?) for a little bit, and Spouse and I stood nearby to make sure he didn’t get scooped up by any wandering cats or foxes whilst lying in the garden, no doubt pining for the fjords. We were more than a little worried he was going to shuffle off this mortal coil and join the choir invisible. Spouse said she felt like a murderer, so I pointed out that the sum total of her ignominious crime was “owning a window”, but she still felt like a monster.
Tired and shagged out after a prolonged squawk?
I took the opportunity to snap off a few pictures at very close range. After twenty minutes of resting or so, he gathered himself together and flew off to the top of the tallest tree in Juniorvania, fresh as a daisy.
We used to have grosbeaks when we lived in the country and yes a few hit our windows until we put up these black stick on silhouettes of birds on the windows.
Lovely plummage for sure. Another few minutes and you would have had to tack its feet to the perch….lol
I had the hammer and nails out, man.
There’s a scene in Porco Rosso — another Miyazaki flick — where the eponymous pilot catches a glimpse of the afterlife. I hesitate to call it heaven, but perhaps it is for pilots, flying endlessly overhead; you can catch a glimpse of it in the youtube video from 0:43-0:44. Apparently it may have been liberally cribbed from a Roald Dahl (himself an aviator) short story, They Shall Not Grow Old.