Since moving over to a new side of the building, I've been exposed to a dark secret of the OSU Foundation....bird murders. The three offices across the hall from my cubicle all have large windows looking out on some trees surrounding the building. These trees produce some kind of berry that the birds around here find irresistable. It's not uncommon to have four or five birds at a time hopping around on the ground picking up this fallen fruit. However, these birds seem to not realize that these windows cannot be flown through, as a few a week hit the windows with shocking velocity.
When I say shocking, I mean instant death. I'm not joking when I say that these birds leave impact stains of blood on the windows. It's really quite disgusting. There's two bird carcasses just laying on the ground right now.
It seems that the frequency of these bird suicides is increasing, as over the past few days I've heard that sickening "THUD" at least three times. The talk around here has been increasing about whose responsibility the bird carcasses are. It seems like we're focused on the wrong problem here. Instead of working on cleaning up the problem, shouldn't we be working on preventing the problem?
Here's a thought: Why don't we just pull the blinds on these large windows? Birds don't make it a habit of flying into walls to my knowledge. Is the view of a run of the mill tree worth the life of the birds in it? Going deeper, is any view worth the life of a living thing? Would you cut down a redwood to get a view of a mountain from your backyard? Would you "thin out" a flock of seagulls that kept crapping on your deck?
Please know that the answer to these questions for me is yes. You can always plant another tree, and I can't imagine that anyone would find the world a less joyous place if there were no seagulls. But if the sound of birds hitting your window or the sight of their death imprint or lifeless bodies is disturbing to you....maybe, just maybe, closing your blinds is a step worth taking.
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