Attack of the Killer Grackles

What's a grackle, you ask? So did I. Apparently it's the bird that should have been used in the Hitchcock movie Birds. Maybe he just didn't think "Grackles" had the appropriate ring for a movie title.

What am I talking about? Well, since I'm feeling a bit blah (there are ups and downs in the process of grieving for deceased loved ones, and today's a downish day), I'm not much in the mood to blog. But, in the interest of giving others something fun to read, I've scanned the Odd News on Yahoo! (it always gives me a good chuckle, anyway), and I've come up with this story...

Notice that all of the attackees interviewed are lawyers or court employees. Coincidence or conspiracy? You decide...

HOUSTON - Like a scene from the horror movie "The Birds," large black grackles are swooping down on downtown Houston and attacking people's heads, hair and backs.

Authorities closed off a sidewalk after the aggressive birds, which can have 2-foot wingspans, flew out of magnolia trees Monday in front of the County Administration Building.

"They were just going crazy," said constable Wilbert Jue, who works at the building. "They were attacking everybody that walked by."

The grackles zeroed in on a lawyer who shooed a bird away before he tripped and injured his face, Jue said. The lawyer was treated for several cuts.

It appears that the birds are protecting their offspring. On Monday a young grackle had fallen out of its nest and adult birds attacked people who got too close, Jue said.

Another bird attacked a deputy county clerk.

"I hit him with a bottle," said Sylvia Velasquez. "The other birds came, and one attacked my blouse and on my back."

Two women came to help her after she fell to the ground, and the birds attacked them as well. The group escaped by running into the building.

"This is a very Hitchcock kind of story. Very Tippi Hedren," said downtown worker Laura Aranda Smith, referring to one of the stars of Alfred Hitchcock's move "The Birds."