I absolutely love to mow the lawn. We have a riding lawn mower. Now that we actually have grass and I'm not pregnant, its a lot more fun to mow. Call me weird, but it is so relaxing for me to just sit and listen to the hum of the engine for the two hours it takes to get our yard done. It's my "me" time. So, you can imagine my dismay when I'm just putt-putting along and all of the sudden a bird starts circling all around me. Then two birds. Then a swarm of them. I jump off the mower and run for shelter on our front porch. Yet they continue to follow me with their screeching noises. Evidently, I have done something extremely offensive to them - now I just have to figure out what.
This has happened numerous times. At first I tried to ignore it. But now it is getting so bad that it is infringing on my "precious lawn mowing time". Now I'm getting mad. What right do these birds have to force me off my mower, in my yard with their circling and screeching? I'm starting to fear every time I get on the mower that I might get dive-bombed by one of these mysterious birds. The other day I even came in defeated. They won. I told Chuck that I was scared for my life and that he could finish mowing if so desired. I then out-fitted him up in the kids' plastic armor. Just kidding - but we actually did consider it for a brief second. But then, what would the neighbors think?!
Come to find out, we have one of the few types of birds that prefers to make it's nest in the ground. Go figure...our luck. Evidently, we have many nests on our property and we can't see them until we come right up on them with the mower.
This past week I was just tootling along when I see a bird sitting maybe 5 feet in front of the path I'm mowing on. She doesn't budge. In fact, she just glares at me and spreads her wings to try to scare me. Then the shrieking begins. Next, her reinforcements bombard me in full force. Again, I run for cover in the safety of our house. What used to be such a serene time, has now transformed into a battle over territory and protecting myself from not being pecked. What happened to the relaxation?
So, I'm sure you can imagine how nice our lawn looks. We wouldn't want to harm the many nests in the ground. Therefore, we drive around them, leaving a circle of about 5 feet in diameter un-mowed. Nice. I don't know what the moral of the story is yet...but I'm sure I'll figure it out soon.
