Warning Over Human Attacks

By Jack Daw, Evening Grosbeak
11 June 2005

Migratory birds today are being warned about violent humans in local forests after an attack left a dove bloodied and needing treatment.

Stuart Columba was fired upon by two humans in what experts have called a severe case of “hunting” – where humans shoot at an animal for no good reason at all.

Now other migrants are being told to stay well away from humans to avoid further attacks.

Mr. Columba told how he was flying his usual route through Pinckney Rec. Area when the humans fired on him. The boys aimed at his head with their weapons and peppered him with b-b’s.

With blood gushing from his head, he had to flee for several minutes before they would stop attack – reminiscent of the Alfred Woodcock film The People.

Mr. Columba, 4, who was attacked at lunchtime on Wednesday, said: “These two massive humans just fired at me. I squawked and flew away, but they wouldn’t stop. They kept on at me and I kept squawking until I noticed blood was pouring down my neck. My feathers were drenched with blood.”

Mr. Columba was so shaken by his ordeal he went to the leader of the flock, who groomed the blood from his feathers and sent him to a hollow tree for some rest. “They said it wasn’t the first occasion of somedove being injured,” he said.

The father of two, from the big red oak tree on North Territorial Road, said he flies past the same humans every day.

“They’re big and look really menacing,” he said. “They have aimed at me before, but this was totally different. I had to dodge behind a tree.”

Although it is not unusual for humans to attack birds, fliers are now being warned to be extra vigilant.

Caroline Wren, of the Fragmented Habitat Center, said Mr. Columba was probably close to the humans’ corn field, which may have been planted where forest recently stood.

“It is quite common at this time of year for humans to try to amuse themselves,” she said. “There was probably some bored kid somewhere nearby which he was not aware of.”

“Birds should be extra careful at this time of year. Humans can be aggressive – as these two have shown. If a flier sees a corn field or a boy with a b-b gun, they should stay well away.”

Joanna Picoides, a nest cavity designer, saw the boys – which she thought were adult humans – in the same place an hour after their attack on Mr. Columba.

“I thought they were very nasty, sinister things,” she said. “Two of them focused on me as I flew past. I couldn’t help thinking of that Woodcock film.”

Mr. Columba, a father of two young squabs, added: “What really worries me is that it could happen again – and it could be a lot worse if the humans attacked squabs. They could literally shoot our babies to pieces.”

A spokesbird for the Passenger Pigeon Council, which is responsible for avian-human relations in the forest, said: “We will be talking to human experts to see if it is a more widespread problem. If it turns out there’s any need to alert other forest-dwelling animals, we will do so.”

Original article here.