Greetings.

   I haven't been showing up here for quite awhile now, but I have an interesting story to tell. My wife Evelyn just passed away last Sunday June 25, 2017. For a few days in a row before then, a cardinal was waking me up by hitting itself against my bedroom window repeatedly for a few minutes.

   I didn't understand this unusual behavior at the time. The past two mornings since she passed away the bird ceased doing this. I mentioned it to a friend who told me that it's an old superstition that a bird tapping on your window means an impending death of a close one.

   I just did some research on the internet and found this to be a well known occurrence. This wed page is one example: http://www.thecardinalexperience.com/superstitions.php

   It seems to me to go beyond coincidence that a cardinal did that to me just before my wife passed away. I'm curious if anyone here has had experience with this as well.

Ralph

Hi Ralph,

I'm so sorry to hear your wife passed away.  Are you doing all right? 

I've never heard of this superstition nor know of any similar experiences from anyone.   

Not to change the subject, but it reminds me of some experiences from a few years back while I was living in the house I was renting.  For two days in a row we had a large bird like a crow hit our kitchen window.  Of course I don't know if it was the same bird or not but it was very distinct and it made me think the bird(s) were doing it on purpose.  Then within a relatively short time I had the same experience with my car, with a bird ramming into my driver's side window as I was driving.  This happened two days in a row.  Freaked the heck out of me.  I never could figure out if it meant something or was actually just a coincidence.  Seems like a pretty odd coincidence!  No, no one died.

Vicky wrote on Jun 28^th, 2017 at 12:34am:

Hi Ralph, I'm so sorry to hear your wife passed away.  Are you doing all right?  I've never heard of this superstition nor know of any similar experiences from anyone.

Hi Vicky.

   I'm doing fine. Thanks. When I mentioned the bird hitting the window for a few days in a row before my wife died, a friend of mine told me that a bird tapping a window means that someone is dying. I never heard of this before either.

   Maybe it's just a coincidence, because this morning the cardinal did it again. I grabbed my camera and recorded it. Here it is on You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCxAQ0CoqXU

Ralph

I saw your video, and you should keep an eye and see if he's the male and if he has a partner.  They will do that while the female is building a nest.  He does this as a distraction to ward off would-be predators.

Vicky wrote on Jun 28^th, 2017 at 5:05pm:

I saw your video, and you should keep an eye and see if he's the male and if he has a partner.  They will do that while the female is building a nest.  He does this as a distraction to ward off would-be predators.

That must be the reason. My next door neighbor has been taking care of numerous feral cats and they are all over my backyard as well. Thanks for solving the bird mystery for me.    :)

Ralph

You're welcome!  I know of this because this spring we had a little House Finch doing the same thing.  Did some research and discovered the reason why. 

:)