Have You Noticed Birds Are Acting Weird In Wyoming Lately?
In the past few weeks, I have been personally attacked by birds, numerous times, either on foot or in my vehicle. At some points, it seems they are more aggressive. Other times it seems like they have a death wish. I spoke with co-workers, family and friends, and it seems like I'm not alone. After my latest encounter, I thought it would be best to do a little bird homework.
First, I went to the planet's favorite search engine, Google, to make sure this wasn't only a Wyoming thing. It most certainly is not. As a matter of fact, it's not only an America thing either. Birds have been caught on camera acting strangely around the globe (see the video below).
Most bird scientists (or ornithologists) believe that the COVID-19 pandemic is the main reason. Because the world's population has been less active now then it has ever been in generations, due to social distancing, wildlife as a whole have been taking over, so to speak.
John Fitzpatrick, executive director of the Cornell Lab, told The Washington Post:
One thing that’s especially true in urban and high-density areas: greatly reduced human traffic leaves more acoustic space out there. Birds do respond negatively to a lot of human noise, according to acoustic studies. It’s quite reasonable to imagine birds are using more of that space with people in their houses. City parks are usually overrun with human beings, and now species are stopping to check them out and use them.
Okay, that makes sense, but that still doesn't answer the question of why the birds are acting so out of character, at least not in any given detail. Could it be because they've had free reign of the earth for the last three months and now the annoying humans are trying to take over again?
One things is for sure, I hope and pray bird dive-bomb attacks aren't the next big thing for 2020.