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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHundreds of Migrating Birds Crash Into NASCAR Hall of Fame with 97 of Them Dying
"More than 300 birds crashed into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in North Carolina on Tuesday night, making for an eerie sight in uptown Charlotte.
"The birds identified as chimney swifts, which migrate from the United States to South America in the fall were caught on video flying into the large building, which opened in May 2010.
"The bizarre and somewhat disturbing footage shows the small birds flying into the glass section of the NASCAR building and dropping to the ground.
"The Carolina Waterfowl Rescue said on Facebook that of the more than 300 birds admitted, 97 were dead on arrival, nine had to be euthanized, 103 were injured and needed further treatment and an additional 107 were stunned from their collision with the building.
https://people.com/sports/hundreds-of-birds-crash-nascar-hall-of-fame-dying/
Ilsa
(61,692 posts)Over a cliff, into a glass wall, off a bridge, it all fits them.
(Poor swifts, though. We had some swifts hatching this last spring in a nook on our porch.)
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I really feel very sorry for the birds who died and were injured. You have to admit, it's pretty creepy. What could have possessed them to do such a thing?
orleans
(34,043 posts)that said usually they are in their bed by 7pm and this happened or started around 9 pm; said something might have scared them--people, an animal, loud sound...
i thought of a car driving down the street today with a nonexistent muffler. we heard it two or three blocks away and it scared my little dog to no end. she was frantic and became even more frantic as the fucking car got closer. that was the first thing i thought of when i saw this story tonight. some asshole and their asshole car.
but who knows?
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)It's ironic that it happened where it did though. A shrine for people who could give a damn about nature or innocent birds. I'm sorry, but I guess I have a very negative view of NASCAR types.
dawg day
(7,947 posts)It was horrible. She seemed to see her own reflection and think that was where her fellows were going. I googled and learned to block the glass with a big piece of cardboard on the inside, so it wasn't reflective anymore. Then she finally figured it out and flew off. I was really worried she was going to kill herself or break the window.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)It was good of you to make the effort to do something about it.
dawg day
(7,947 posts)They do the same thing-- bang against the same reality, longing for the illusion.
Coventina
(27,093 posts)The predation by cats is tiny compared with how many birds are killed by glass.
dweller
(23,623 posts)A great cry went up from the stockyards and
slaughterhouses, and Death, tired of complaint
and constant abuse, withdrew to his underground garage.
He was still young and his work was a torment.
All over, their power cut, people stalled like street cars.
Their gravity taken away, they began to float.
Without buoyancy, they began to sink. Each person
became a single darkened room. The small hand
pressed firmly against the small of their backs
was suddenly gone and people swirled to a halt
like petals fallen from a flower. Why hurry?
Why get out of bed? People got off subways,
on subways, off subways all at the same stop.
Everywhere clocks languished in antique shops
as their hands composed themselves in sleep.
Without time and decay, people grew less beautiful.
They stopped eating and began to study their feet.
They stopped sleeping and spent weeks following stray dogs.
The first to react were remnants of the church.
They falsified miracles: displayed priests posing
as corpses until finally they sneezed or grew lonely.
Then governments called special elections to choose those
to join the ranks of the volunteer dead: unhappy people
forced to sit in straight chairs for weeks at a time.
Interest soon dwindled. Then the army seized power
and soldiers ran through the street dabbling the living
with red paint. You're dead, they said. Maybe
tomorrow, people answered, today we're just breathing:
look at the sky, look at the color of the grass.
For without Death each color had grown brighter,
At last a committee of businessmen met together,
because with Death gone money had no value.
They went to where Death was waiting in a white room,
and he sat on the floor and looked like a small boy
with pale blond hair and eyes the color of clear water.
In his lap was a red ball heavy with the absence of life.
The businessmen flattered him. We will make you king,
they said. I am king already, Death answered. We will
print your likeness on all the money of the world.
It is there already, Death answered. We adore you
and will not live without you, the businessmen said.
Death said, I will consider your offer.
How Death was restored to his people:
At first the smallest creatures began to die-
bacteria and certain insects. No one noticed. Then fish
began to float to the surface; lizards and tree toads
toppled from sun-warmed rocks. Still no one saw them.
Then birds began tumbling out of the air,
and as sunlight flickered on the blue feathers
of the jay, brown of the hawk, white of the dove,
then people lifted their heads and pointed to the sky
and from the thirsty streets cries of welcome rose up
like a net to catch the delicate and plummeting bodies.
Stephan Dobyns
very much like this
✌🏼
dawg day
(7,947 posts)they said. I am king already, Death answered. We will
print your likeness on all the money of the world.
It is there already, Death answered.
That's like a punch in the gut.
"Already, said Death."