Blackbird Just Won`t Go Bye

April 03, 1988|By Scripps Howard News Service.

MEMPHIS — Once upon a morning early, while she fried some bacon curly, Josephine Turner looked out her window and saw a blackbird on her car.

It seemed as lovestruck as a turtledove, or as vain as a peacock, or maybe it was just cuckoo-a bird-brain gone too far. The bird, Turner said, seemed fascinated by the car`s sideview mirror.

``He`d be fluttering around, and his beak would be half-open. I don`t know if he was talking or what.``

The bird has returned each morning for a week to perform the same ritual. ``As amusing as it was, it became a nuisance. I would have to go out three to four times a day to wipe away the droppings,`` said Turner.

The Turners covered the mirror in hopes the bird would leave. But it hopped over to her husband`s car and began flapping around its mirrors.

According to Herb Roberts of the Memphis Zoo, the blackbird may think its reflection is a rival bird invading its territory.

Whatever the explanation, the Turners plan to cover all the mirrors on their cars in hopes the bird will become bored and leave. They hope it won`t be with them-evermore.