Birds birds birds

We just did a bad bird roundup a week ago, but the stories keep coming in:

-When Owls Attack: These days, a generation that grew up with Harry Potter is left with a fondness for owls, but reality is much less charming than fiction. In the Washington DC area, recurring owl attacks on innocent pedestrians are making the news. "I felt this scraping sensation along the right side of my head, and much to my amazement an owl flew away," a jogger told WTOP, saying the attack came with no warning: "You don't hear a thing. Now I know what a squirrel feels like." Another victim told the Washington Post of being attacked three times in a row.

One DC official made excuses, as these wildlife "experts" often do: claiming that the jogger's ponytail was likely mistaken for a tasty squirrel. But a scientist consulted by the Post knows the real deal:

When he studies owl nestlings, Bierregaard wears safety glasses and a lacrosse helmet.

-Kamikaze starlings:

A mass collision between a flock of starlings and a car on a stretch of Austrian expressway has left up to 100 of the birds dead and the driver shaken but unhurt.

The Austria Press Agency says the birds suddenly flew from power lines above the multi-lane highway in western Austria downward and directly into the path of the car.

Just an accident? Or a plan that went awry, leaving the driver unharmed?

-Hope is the thing with a spray can:

The kea parrot of New Zealand (in the photo above) is famous for being able to virtually disassemble cars with its beak -they're not afraid of the police, either - and for its nasty habit of eating sheep alive.

Despite this hooliganism the kea was made a protected species, making it difficult to fight back. But now there's hope in the form of a weapon that, ironically, comes out of an effort to protect them. A product was designed to keep the birds from eating poison meant for introduced species - and now it's going to be made into a spray-on kea repellent.