Jerk Bird Attacking People

By Prescott Carlson in News on Jun 21, 2008 1:24PM

If you're walking or bicycling around the city and see a bird that looks like the one in the above photo, you best start heading in the opposite direction. It's a red-winged blackbird, it's nesting, and it's a mean SOB. Get just a wee bit too close to its nest, and you're likely to feel a pecking and/or clawing at your head.

It happened to Holly Grosso. The businesswoman was on her cell phone, walking along West Grand Avenue near Rockwell Street on Wednesday, when the bird—dubbed "Hitchcock" by area workers—made its move.

"Something just came down, pecked me in the head, took my hair and started flying away," she said. "It's so bizarre. It's this little bird."

The birds especially like to go after bikers, with a report of one bird getting so aggressive a person lost control of their bike and fell on the sidewalk -- which would be a shoo-in winner on America's Funniest Home Videos.

Has anyone here had a run in with one of these bastards? [Trib]