1/17/2005

Unsolved Mysteries; Solved

Uncle AndrewUncle Andrew
Filed under: @ 11:36 am

Today is a typical Seattle Winter day, weatherwise: temperatures in the mid-40’s, with a steady rain. The kind of weather that made me fall in love with this part of the country in the first place….something that, as a long-time resident of Hawaii, it took a long time for me to admit.

I was outside tending to the hot tub when I noticed a greater-than-usual amount of bird crap on the cover to the tub. Not disturbing, but certainly a little perplexing.

A while later Margaret called me out of my office to witness the explanation: a veritable Air Force of little birds (finches, chickadees, bush tits….an assortment of what we generically refer to as “Tweedlybeeps”) taking shelter from the rain in the Winter-bare vines of the grape arbor that covers our tub. Must have been thirty of the little beggars.

This footage was taken with an el cheapo digital camera so it’s not terribly clear, but you get the general idea. Requires Apple’s free QuickTime Player to play.

Click here to download the video (reduces load time versus embedding it in the page).

3 Responses to “Unsolved Mysteries; Solved”

  1. TriciaSB Says:

    Once upon a time, Joe and I had a similar problem. Our covered balcony was a hangout for a ton of local birds and was covered in bird crap. Reclaiming the balcony was simpler than we thought, we just bought a cheap little pinwheel and zip-tied it to the balcony. It freaks them out for some reason. They left the balcony alone after that.

    We also have bamboo wind chimes out there, just because I like them. Joe thinks that helps as a deterrent, but I think the pinwheel does most of the work. Hope that helps!

  2. Uncle Andrew Says:

    Oh, I don’t mind it, really. The cover is there to do exactly what it has been doing: insulate the hot tub and protect it from the elements. It doesn’t really matter if one of the elements is bird poo. It’s not like I spend a lot of time rolling around on the surface of our hot tub cover. 😉

  3. TriciaSB Says:

    But, now that you’ve said that, I’m picturing you rolling around on the hot tub cover. And–for some reason–you’re saying “Wheeeeeeeee!”

    I am a strange and silly person.


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