My eyes have been opened to a whole new phenomenon out there - birds who don't have the sense God gave a turnip.
These pics come from Barry, who was inspired by a previous photo sent in of a Bird Smack that fascinated me because you can see so many tiny details of the bird, even the eye ball. Many of you have written to tell me birds are full of dander and fluff and muck so this isn't unusual. I am an avid birdwatcher and know they see "sky" in the reflection of the window so just keep on flying, and well...they're not rocket scientists. I would like to offer a different theory - they do this on purpose; it's pure ego. Judging from the imprints they realized they screwed up about .001 seconds before the actual hit. Otherwise, you'd have the round >bop< of a bird head on the window and a bird below, rubbing his noggin, looking around ashamed to see if anyone saw him just make an ass of himself. In this photo you can even see the little feet, pushed on the glass at the exact second I imagine the bird thought to himself, "oh shit....".

I think they see their reflection flying at themselves, think it's another bird and their ego kicks in. They have to play "chicken" about it. "I'm not gonna move over, damn him..I was here first...I haven't gone through 2 winters to have some punk-ass kid force me out of my flight path" They figure they'll swoop by, graze the other bird and give him a good scare so next time, he knows this is not Fun and Games. Like you do to people walking down the middle of the aisle in parking lots, oblivious to the fact that it is a parking lot and people actually drive cars, trying to park. Even though you may politely follow them for yards trying to make your presence known, patiently hoping they'll take the hint and move their fat asses over, still they mosey along like it's a Sunday stroll. So you floor it and WHIP by missing them by millimeters, just catching the edge of a bag they're carrying, ripping it out of their hands and scattering their stuff all over the ground.

Oh yeah, like I'm the only one who does that.

Barry wrote: "To add to the "Window Ghost Pigeon" gallery - large bird impact was probably a crow or blackbird, as this is a rural area and not many pigeons are seen here. Here's a couple of pix of my rear picture window. One bird splat is plain, there's another to its left & below, another above and right". Thanks Barry :)