Bird attacks on humans

Well I have a duck who makes a grand attempt to kill me everyday!


But yes attacking birds are terrifying.

Years ago I used to ride (horses) at a local stable. I also worked there with their therapeutic riding program. In order to walk from the main office area to the stables you went out one door and walked a very short distance to the side entrance to the stables, or you could go out another door and aaaaaallllll the way around by the parking lot and around again and up to the stables via another entrance. Guess where this one bird ALWAYS built a nest, every single year? yep, in a tree right along that short distance to the stables. sheesh... So during nesting season if we were heading to the stables to ride we'd always put on our helmets before we left the office area. lol. If we were just going out to do some work or get horses ready for the therapeutic program or something where we didn't need a helmet... well we either ran for it, or went around the long way.

When I worked downtown, there was a big problem with grackles attacking people. They were really aggressive. My office is moving back downtown next year, so I hope these birds have moved on!

When I was a kid we had blue jay nest in a tree in our backyard. They were very aggressive.

Yes, twice. Once as a child in California and once as a teen in Florida. Both times I got too close to their nests.

Be very careful if a bat flies into you.  A Vancouver man died from rabies and didn't have a scratch or anything.  The bat simply ran into his hand and he swatted it. 


A 21-year-old Parksville, B.C., man who died from rabies after coming into contact with an infected bat on Vancouver Island this spring ran into the nocturnal mammal in an "unusual" daytime encounter, health officials said Tuesday.

Nick Major was spending time outdoors in mid-May when the bat "essentially ran into his hand," said provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.

Henry said Major may not have realized the gravity of the collision.

"As is often the case, when you come in contact with a bat, you may not actually see a scratch or bite," Henry said Tuesday. "Clearly, in this case, there was at least a small puncture wound that led to the infection."

Friends said Major contracted the disease in the Tofino area, on the opposite side of Vancouver Island.

Henry said it is extremely rare for someone to die from rabies in B.C.



Major's death marked the second rabies-related fatality in the province since Health Canada began tracking reports of the disease in 1924. The first was in 2003.



A little brown bat, or Myotis lucifugus, is pictured on B.C.'s Vancouver Island in an undated stock photo. The bat is a species of mouse-eared microbat found across North America and weighs only about eight grams. (Shutterstock)

Bats are the only carrier and reservoir of rabies in B.C. — the latter term meaning they can carry and pass on the virus without showing symptoms.



Rabies can be spread through a microscopic bite or a scratch but also through contact with mucous membranes — like one's mouth, nose, and eyelids — via saliva.



"Any contact with a bat at all is risky," said Henry.



"But as we say, most bats go about their life without coming into contact with humans."



What to do after a brush with a bat

Anyone who encounters a bat in B.C. should wash any contact area thoroughly with soap and seek medical attention for a risk assessment.



The post-exposure rabies vaccine, Henry said, is a "very effective" series of four shots that build upon a person's existing immune system to help fight off the virus before illness can begin.





A little brown bat, one of 16 species of bat living in B.C. (Submitted by Cory Olson)

Henry said people should see a medical professional even if symptoms don't appear, as the virus can incubate for months or years before an infected person starts to feel sick.



Anyone whose pets have come into contact with a bat should take the animal to a veterinarian.



Bats in B.C.

There are 16 species of bats living in B.C., nine of which are found on Vancouver Island. Those species are known to roost in buildings, mines, cliffs, caves, bat houses, rock piles and trees — specifically cottonwoods.



Danielle Dagenais, a bat biologist with the B.C. Community Bat Program, said bats with rabies may seem especially sick or weak. People should be especially wary of bats behaving strangely, including ones flying around during the day.



Dagenais said a bat should never be handled with bare hands.



"A lot of the bats that are living in people's homes are very, very small animals. They have very, very small teeth and you might not notice that you have been bitten or scratched," the biologist said. "It's very, very important people wear gloves."



The B.C. Centre for Disease Control said around 13 per cent of bats tested are positive for rabies, though Dagenais said the actual rate is likely lower considering the centre only tests a portion of bats in the province.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/rabies-death-bc-vancouver-island-bat-1.5213460

There were black birds in the trees of my work parking lot and once they all had babies, it was a challenge walking into work. Many started bringing their umbrellas to make it safely into nearest work door.

Every Aussie knows that magpies swoop in spring to protect their nests-especially if you are riding a bike!

A giant Canadian goose once chased me. It was terrifying!

There was a very successful reintroduction of Red Kites in my neck of the woods after they had virtually disappeared. Unfortunately people locals got into the mind set of having to encourage them and feed them and now they have become too used to it and there are more and more stories of them swooping down and taking people’s food while they’re eating outside etc. They’re pretty big and I imagine they’re quite scary.