Perspective

Our house in Caldwell had floor to ceiling windows on the sunny side. In Spring a robin flew directly at one of the windows many times a day, knocking himself out, and falling to the ground. I wondered why knocking himself to the ground didn't teach him to stop this behavior, why he kept doing it. I thought at first he wanted to get inside the house.

Days and days he did this, and I finally I decided upon a reason that made sense to me. It was because he could see his image in the glass and had fallen in love with himself. He wanted to be with that beautiful bird.

I wrote a poem about it and expressed that idea in the poem. I took it to my writing group. My friend told me she had the very same experience one year. Her conclusion was nothing like mine. She concluded the robin could see his image in the window and wanted to fight that other bird. His flying at the window was an attack.

That also made sense to me. I'd like to think I'm right, but it's likely she is.