Thieving Birds

A few days ago we had just pulled out of the driveway on our way to Adelaide when I realised that the windscreen was rather dirty. I activated the wipers and the resultant screeching brought me to a quick halt. My wife alighted and she discovered that the left hand wiper blade was missing!

On my return home I went to the spot where the car had been parked. Sure enough, there on the ground was the missing blade. The Little Ravens had been fussing around on the mirror adjacent the wiper for several days. They are my chief suspects at this point, but I have no conclusive evidence.

Over recent months I have observed the following species fussing around the cars, and the mirror in particular: Little Ravens, Australian Magpies, Grey Shrike-Thrush, Willie Wagtail, Magpie Lark and Red Wattlebird. All are suspects, but my money would be on the ravens.

How the bird in question got the rubber wiper blade out beats me. It was hard enough getting it on in the first place. (I replaced both blades a few months ago.)

And why didn’t the bird in question at least have the decency to use the blade in its nest?

UPDATE:

I posted this article this morning. I hadn’t used said vehicle for several days. Guess what? The blighters have done it again! Same wiper blade completely removed and left on the ground. The other wiper blade was part way out!

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