Thursday's Bluebird of Happiness Fights With Himself 05-26-16

Copyright 2016 AJ Horton

Hello and happy Thursday.  Sometimes the mirror is not my friend.  Some days, when I look into the mirror, I want to punch it, and say, "that's not me!"  Some days, I look in the mirror and think, "my hair looks good today".  Mostly, though, I avoid the mirror because I fight with it too much.  I'll tell you who else should avoid the mirror - my friend Mr. Bluebird.  I wanted to photograph this bird for weeks, now, but he's always been too far away.  Who knew that a shiny red truck with big mirrors would bring him close.

As I was walking by my sliding glass doors on Sunday, I saw him out of the corner of my eye.  I thought, "yay, a bluebird".   Then, I looked again, and low and behold, he was fighting with the reflection of himself in the mirror.  So, I grabbed my camera with the new, long lens and slid quietly out the door and onto the steps near the truck.  I thought I might scare him away, but he was too intent on fighting with the image of himself on the mirror.  I stayed out for a little while and got many good images and then went back inside.  A little while later he was still fighting the mirror so I went out and got more images.  An hour went by and he was still going at it with himself.  His wife (or so I think it was) came by and tried to get him to stop.  He would not.  She sat on the electrical wire and called to him - he went a few times but did not stay long before he went back to the mirror.

After an hour of this poor bird battling the mirror, we took plastic bags and covered the mirrors so he couldn't see his reflection.  We didn't fool him too much because he knew there was something there, he just couldn't find it.  He even picked a fight with the back, very well tinted, window thinking it was another bird.  This beautiful blue bird was just not going to be denied a fight.  

A few more minutes passed with him furiously looking and attacking and we felt like, if he continued fighting, he was going to kill himself.  I have never seen anything like this.  Finally, we decided the best thing to do was move the truck!  We moved the truck to the other side of the house and into the carport.  We left the bags on the mirrors and also put bags on the car mirrors just in case.

This poor little bluebird was so very entertaining.  I love to see bluebirds and I want to see this particular one again.  He can come and sit on my truck anytime.  I just don't want him to die while fighting himself.  He is, after all, "The Bluebird of Happiness".  He did give me happiness and I hope he comes by to give me more.

I hope you had a happy and entertaining Thursday.  Thanks for looking,  See you tomorrow.