On Birds

The other day I let my friend borrow my tent, and when I got it back it was soaking wet from the morning dew (not their fault, nature's). Following standard protocol, I immediately set up the tent to let it dry out and air out. I put the tent in a sunny patch in my backyard, and I put the rain cover out on my pool deck. I tied the ends of the rain cover to four chairs to spread it out to allow it to dry the quickest.

When I returned several hours later, there was bird poop on the tarp, which lead me to believe that the birds did it on purpose, because there were quite a few "splotches." Not only did I have to wash the tarp off and re-dry it, but I began to ponder how skilled birds are in, well, "aiming."

At track practice one day in seventh grade, and eighth grade girl was running around the field when a bird got her on the head. Understandably, she screamed and ran inside for the next 45 minutes washing her hair over and over and over again. As bad as it had been, I was really impressed by the birds skills. Definitely army sniper material.

I forgot about this event until a month and a half ago. I was running, and I looked down at my shirt. I had been hit. Awesome. I did not even notice; the bird had been stealth. Now that I was the victim, it did not seem so cool, but I thought about this incredible accuracy again. The birds have to recognize the difference in their velocities and the velocity of the target. Both the girl and I had been running when it happened, a difficult task indeed. I think the birds know quite a bit about two dimensional and relative motion.

Either way, this is what is on my mind right now, as random as it seems. I have been told that it is good luck for this to happen. To me, it just means a long time in the shower.

-MM