Lots of angry birds in Noe Valley these days. We first heard from Lenny over the weekend:
Ok, what's the story with these dive bombing birds in Upper Noe Valley?! They're tiny little black sparrows that sneak up behind people, fly into their head and then flee. It's nuts. I was attacked and then watched, one after one, they kept going like clockwork. We saw them in two places: 24th between Castro and Diamond and then on 23rd and Diamond.
Then on
Twitter yesterday: "Birds attacking peeps just past Barney's on 24th btw Diamond n Castro. Happening since May. Prob springtime babies."
And then today
Curbed pointed out
this post on Boing Boing: "I spotted this somewhat disconcerting sign at a playground yesterday." The sign from the Upper Noe Rec Center shown in the above photo reads "Beware of attack birds! Incidents of small black birds pecking at public."
We don't have a photo of the offending birds, but we're guessing it's the
European (or Common) Starling. First introduced to the US in the 1890s they are now the
"most hated bird in North America." Yes it hurts when they peck at your head while defending their nest, but consider this: they've been known to take down airplanes.
We'd still like a photo if anyone has one.
[
Update 7/7:
@oddnoc believes he knows what they are: "They're not sparrows, but Brewer's blackbirds. They're not being "bizarre," but are defending their nests."]
