The only bird I can name off the top of my head is a pigeon. In my defense, I am from New York City where most wildlife is viewed from a safe distance in one of our zoos. So when some sort of animal that isn’t someone’s pet gets too close to me, I get suspicious of its intentions and a “freak-out” is imminent.

So imagine my horror when one of my Institute colleagues, Rodney Hawkins, opened the door of the small plane we’d just chartered to fly over the Gulf oil spill and a small grey bird flew into the cabin. First reaction: panic. Second reaction: hostility quickly replaced by horror. Again in my defense, I’ve never seen a wild bird want to be near people. Usually if a bird accidentally flies into a building or car I’ve been in, its immediate reaction is to try and get out. Not this bird.

As the panic began to run through me I thought of the movie “The Birds” and ducked my head as I’d seen the people in the movie do. Apparently this was interpreted as “Land here”:The next thing I knew the bird was standing on the nape of my neck. As I stood frozen in shock and horror, the pilot moodily told me to get out of the plane, probably afraid I’d break something in my panic.

When I moved to open the door, the bird jumped up on my head. At the sensation of tiny bird feet on my scalp, the freak-out ensued. I jumped out of the plane and the bird found its next victim, my fellow passenger April Buffington. The bird remained perched on April until she got out of the plane too.

I was standing less than 10 feet from where the bird caught its breath on the ground and as I met its beady little eyes, it made a bee line — or bird line in this case — straight for me. Using some expert evasive maneuvers, I was able to evade my attacker briefly. But like a bull with a matador, the bird made another attempt to land on me, but was again thwarted by my quick maneuvering.

Bored with me, the bird then attempted to land on the back of our faculty videographer, Mark Raymond, as he ran toward to the hangar. Finally, after all its efforts, the bird found the perfect perch: atop the pilot’s head. Happy ending for the bird, traumatic experience for me.

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