I had an interesting experience the other day. I was a little more than half way up the mast doing some cleanup work after previously replacing some lines and standing rigging. A few birds buzzed by close enough that I could the fluttering of their wings. Then they started making angry squawks as the kept flying closer and closer. Then they grew in numbers. I looked up and saw about six of them circling the top of the mast. Every so often, one would break the circle and dive down towards my head. After I could no longer ignore them, I took off my floppy hat and started swatting at them, which didn't stop their swooping, but did cause them to back of in distance just a bit.
I didn't have much work left to do so I finished it abruptly and started lowering myself down the mast. It seemed like the horde of birds circling above me was growing. Once I was down to the lower third of the mast or so, they seemed to calm down. There was something about me being up high that seemed to provoke them. Maybe, for a bird, a height is a predatory threat, like a crow on a high perch hunting field mice.
Once I got back down to the dock, I looked around the area a bit and found a hole in one of the wood pilings where the blackbirds (as I discovered later) were feeding their nesting chicks inside the piling. Though my proximity to the nest was much closer while I was standing on the dock, this didn't seem to provoke the circling horde much at all. It seems that what had really upset them was me being up above the nest, even though that put my a greater distance away.
Apparently, nesting season for blackbirds ends in late July to August. I guess I won't plan any further trips up the mast until fall. Who knew?
I didn't have much work left to do so I finished it abruptly and started lowering myself down the mast. It seemed like the horde of birds circling above me was growing. Once I was down to the lower third of the mast or so, they seemed to calm down. There was something about me being up high that seemed to provoke them. Maybe, for a bird, a height is a predatory threat, like a crow on a high perch hunting field mice.
Once I got back down to the dock, I looked around the area a bit and found a hole in one of the wood pilings where the blackbirds (as I discovered later) were feeding their nesting chicks inside the piling. Though my proximity to the nest was much closer while I was standing on the dock, this didn't seem to provoke the circling horde much at all. It seems that what had really upset them was me being up above the nest, even though that put my a greater distance away.
Apparently, nesting season for blackbirds ends in late July to August. I guess I won't plan any further trips up the mast until fall. Who knew?
