ML503764681

Age

Not specified

Sex

Not specified

Observation details

This morning my backyard was assailed by an uncontrollably exuberant intruder from the North. I thought at first that his battle cries were simply echoing through the deepest catacombs of my mind, but then I looked outside to see him perched on the fence, screaming at me to come back out for a Round 2... Around 8:00 AM pacific standard time, my Dad came inside to inform me of the situation developing in the yard. "Liam, don't you hear all that noise outside? I think its a White-throated Sparrow!?". I had taken only a single step out into the crisp morning air, when my senses were assaulted and quickly overwhelmed by a flurry of piercing call notes hurled directly into my brain, bypassing my ears completely. Caffeine is a lowly stimulant by contrast. At this point, my Dad thought it wise to play a call, hoping to inspire our wonderful visitor to reveal his smug striped face... Chaos erupted. Within seconds a White-throated Sparrow was so close to my face I could have identified it with my eyes closed. For some reason however, my eyes were open... Like a slo-mo sequence from an action movie, a White-throated Sparrow was hurtling through the air at incredible speed, razor-sharp talons outstretched. A wave of fear enveloped me. 3 feet short of unprecedented damage, he veered to the right and lit upon the roof. This immediately became his new domain. What followed was no more surprising than anything else that had happened up to this point: he proceeded to sprint laps around the roof, hurling insults my way as frequently as he could manage. When this no longer met his ever-increasing energy output requirements, he threw himself off the roof and onto the fence 15 feet from where I stood. Over the next 3 minutes, our crazed comrade sat atop every single panel of fence twice, the neighbors roof once, 20 feet up in an oak tree, ran a half-marathon on the pavement at the base of the fence, and called in excess of 12,000 times... It was at this point that I fled the scene. He is STILL calling out there, now taking up residence outside my FRONT DOOR......... A once pleasant morning has evolved into a waking nightmare, and there is no end in sight.

Technical information

Model

Canon EOS 90D

Lens

150-600mm F5-6.3 DG OS HSM | Contemporary 015

ISO

1600

Focal length

435 mm

Flash

Flash did not fire

f-stop

f/8.0

Shutter speed

1/400 sec

Dimensions

4143 pixels x 2396 pixels

Original file size

8.15 MB