A red cardinal has been smashing into the outside of my office window for the last few days. My windows look into a small garden area. There’s only one narrow way in and out, and the rest of the area is enclosed with walls shooting up thirty or more feet. It’s been several days of the little cardinal looking for an escape but only finding another disaster, staring himself face to face in a piece of glass.
This morning, upon another crash into my window, I walked over to get a better view of the bird, watching and rooting for his escape. He spent most of his time on the branches of a bush where red tasty berries were abundant. I watched him eat a few before crashing into my window a few more times. He then spotted some daylight hidden behind some bushes. He lifted from the window’s ledge, flew by the bush rich with berries, and out into freedom. So I went back to my desk to finish up some reading, so happy the bird was now free.
Fifteen minutes later he crashed into my window again. The lure of the berries, a powerful force. The thing he couldn’t resist was the very thing that imprisoned him.
(As I typed these few paragraphs he smashed into my window another four times.)