# Bird attacks



## David Baxter PhD (Jul 14, 2018)

*Cornwall cordons off area under falcon 'attacks'*
by Megan Gillis. _Ottawa Citizen_
July 13, 2018            





_A Cornwall neighbourhood has been under attack by divebombing falcons for several weeks.                                                      Alan S. Hale / Postmedia_

A pair of nesting Merlin falcons defending their four fledgelings  has so terrorized people around a Cornwall intersection that the city  has cordoned off the area and posted warning signs.

They’ve been  dive-bombing people at the busy intersection of McConnell and Ninth  streets, a few kilometres from downtown, for weeks and attacking staff  of the Cornwall Community Hospital as they took breaks outside the  building to the point they were afraid to go outside, the Cornwall  Standard-Freeholder reported.

They also swooped at people coming in and out of the entrance to the CCH Community Addiction and Mental Health Centre.

“When  the falcons started showing up at the hospital, I didn’t know what to  do. I had never dealt with a situation like this,” recalled Alan Greig,  vice-president of support services for the hospital.

“My staff have been shielding themselves with umbrellas.”

The Ministry of Natural Resources was called in for a cure.

A  falconer was called in to assess the situation earlier this week and  concluded that the fledgelings were just starting to test their wings  and were between six and 10 days from being ready to leave the nest.

The  adults, meanwhile, are protecting them although a ministry pokeswoman  said that “this type of aggressive behaviour from Merlins is not  common.”

The falconer tried – unsuccessfully – to catch the  attacking birds, Grieg told the newspaper, but the mama gave the human  interloper a wide berth.

“The bird was too smart,” Grieg said. “She saw the net as was like ‘I’m not going down there.’”


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## forgetmenot (Jul 14, 2018)

lol that is funny  good mama for protecting her young.


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