Why I may need a tetanus booster

My last call, as usual, was long. Endless, you might say. My few chances to lie down resulted in the inevitable page. One aspect of taking call on OB is to do "courtesy checks" for the community docs. This can vary from everything from looking at a slide a nurse prepared to a full vaginal and cervical exam to a complete delivery. I am also the person on hand to assist with c-sections, of course. Between my bazillion speculum "courtesy checks" I assisted a handful o' sections and slept barely a wink. My own patients didn't deliver overnight. Which was particularly fine as two of them were preterm anyhow.

This afternoon, after a couple hours sleep after that endless call, I decided to walk to the post office to mail some letters. On the way I was brutally attacked by a crow. I was listening to my iPod, innocently walking on a well-traveled path, surrounded by kids, homeless people, campers, families, gangster wannabes. The park was pretty crowded for an early Wednesday afternoon. I get to a less populated part of the park (but equally as urban with a big construction project across the street and a bus stop) when my head gets slammed from behind so hard that my neck snaps forward. At first I thought maybe I got hit by a rock until in my peripheral vision I see big black wings and talons.

It got me good. Thankfully wasn't bleeding all over myself (last thing I wanted to do was go back to the hospital) but I do have a rather large lump, a very tender scalp and a few nice scabs where some hair used to be. After the attack, the bird followed and continued to scream at me. I pulled out my Nalgene bottle, turned to face the oily thing and dared it to come at me again, completely prepared to defend myself with deadly force if necessary. I didn't have to, but the way my adrenalin was pumping I was more than willing to fight back.

I love nature. I feel, in most cases, we have encroached on nature's little beasties. I'm starting to feel that crows, however, are less the victim and more the perpetrator. They are just plain mean. They drive out native birds and take over. I've seen a murder of crows (yes, a group of crows is called a murder) attack a lone eagle or barn owl before here. The are just big black feathered bullies.

I decided it was time to learn a little about crow attacks. My first source was Cornell:

My 10 year old son keeps having crows trying to attack him. He will be out in the yard and they come swooping down on his head. He has done nothing to them and he is terrified to go out side alone now. I have been out there and they have not bothered me. Please tell me what I can do.

Since you gave no indication of where you live, I have to guess on exactly what is happening. But, right now (late May) in most areas of the country crow babies are just fledgling (leaving the nest). In the first couple of weeks that the young are out of the nest they cannot fly well and are very vulnerable to predation. They hide in the trees and the parents are very protective of them. At this time the parents will mob (attack) any potential predator in the area. Usually this means cats and dogs, but it appears that your son elicits the same response. You are too big to risk getting too near. Just wait a few days and the fledglings will leave your yard and the parents will calm down. Try to keep in mind that these birds are not vicious fiends bent on your son's destruction, but merely dedicated parents trying to defend their own young in the best fashion they know.

Hm... so am I like a 10-year-old kid these crows? What aren't I "too big to risk getting near"?

Apparently, this is an issue in London as well. Check out THIS article. More than one Hitchcock parallel made surely.

And, now, a 60 second video about the true nature of crows as I see it:

Resident Evil Extinction-Crow Attack
Uploaded by systemofevil