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sorka

Well-Known Member
Feb 28, 2015
11,597
9,570
Merced, CA
I was at the annual Relay for Life in Merced last night visiting my wife and friends. I of course parked in far away in a part of the parking lot that had no cars and were unlikely to have any cars park next to me. I always walk the extra distance. Always have for all my cars....even my cars like my Prius.

So I get back several hours later to see this:

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It didn't seem to react much to me or the headlight on my head. I walked around the passenger side and looked for scratches and didn't see any. I figured at this point it may have landed rather than climbed. I then proceeded to pick it up with some clean micro fiber towels and placed it near a bush that was by the car.

No sooner did I put it down than it made for the MS again. It jumped up on to the right front fender and used it as a treadmill with its claws!!!!! It must have gotten a hundred power steps in on my fender trying to get back up. It slipped back off onto the ground. I picked it up and moved it about 50 feet away near another bush. I walked back to my car. Amazingly no scratches on the Xpel ultimate but I wasn't surprised. That stuff is slippery and really scratch resistant. FIgured I'd gotten off scott free.

So I get back in my car and as I pull out, I notice this thing is running fast back towards my MS!!!! What the heck????? I had to use a little bit of Ludicrous to get out fast enough :)

This morning when I went back to load stuff up up(yes that's a car several spots over but I was only there for 5 minutes and was able to see the car the entire time :) I noticed that in fact the bird had climbed up on the drivers side of the car. I was focused on the passenger side because that's where it was.

Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

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OMG. Now you have me rethinking having my entire car wrapped instead of just the normal rock chip areas.:)

I can't really see the bird in the picture very well but will show it to my bird brained, I mean bird expert, wife later.

From the behavior it sounds like a juvenile that may not be fully developed yet and was just leaving, or was displaced, from it's nest. That could account for the activity. I would assume a normal bird would have flown off when you approached.
 
Hard to tell from the from the picture but if isn't a pigeon then it could be an African Grey Parrot. Greys are very smart and like people. A pigeon would never let you touch him, but a well tamed Grey would. I'm no ornithologist so I'm speaking from a very small amount of experience gained from my pet loving wife.
 
Hmm, it does look a bit like a parrot. It is hard to tell but his wings look clipped as well. Maybe someone's lost pet? That might explain the behavior of running back towards you. Did it have a large beak?
 
A couple of weeks ago I was coming out of a CostCo returning from a great parking spot or so I thought. Usually don't get spots that close especially since this is a very busy CostCo. Anyway as I approached my car, I see on the driver's side the biggest bird poo splatter I've seen in my life. It covered the window all the way (vertically), ran alongside the whole driver's side door. So I get up to the door and I see this pigeon near the passenger side windshield but on the hood.

I was pissed so I ran towards it to scare it off. My attempt to scare the bird made it scramble to gain traction with it's claws on the hood before finally able to fly off. I haven't noticed any scratches on my untreated car but it wasn't until I got to my next destination that I was able to clean up the mess since I carry a spare microfiber towel with me. I should have taken a picture of the mess.