Do NOT feed the birds!!

We've all seen this sign:

And, we probably think 'Awe, aren't they cute - just one crumb won't hurt.'

And, maybe we aren't bothered by the occasional swoop of this guy.

But we found out the bad side of feeding any bird on our trip to Busch Gardens in Tampa. My husband was busy with meetings so it was me and the kiddos. We decided to grab some lunch before viewing the park, you know spend a million dollars on a hamburger and hot dogs. The fun of vacations! haha

Anywho, we were eating and a bird started getting closer and closer to us. I told HC, I said 'Look at the bird HC.' Thinking we were in no harm. Boy was I wrong!! Before I knew what happened, the bird jumped on my chair as I was shooing it away it, with NO luck. That white bird was coming at us (by the way, it looks huge with wings spread and flying towards your head)! It grabbed my cheeseburger and flew down on the ground to gobble it up. I was in shock and my kids were wailing!! They were terrified to say the least. I felt helpless - I couldn't get the bird to leave. It came back for more, jumping on JB's chair. I scooped him up and grabbed his lunch bucket and used the bucket to shoo the bird away. A park worker came by and shooed the bird for good but the damage was done - two terrified kids and now I had to be given another burger. I had to sit there with the kids b/c if I didn't eat - I would not be up for the day's activities. It was awful!! So what did this bird look like? Here ya go - imagine this flying at you with a determined look in it's eyes: I didn't get a picture b/c we were so distressed and ready to get out of there - but here is a pic I found on the WWW. It is an Ibis:

This is what an Ibis is supposed to do/eat:
The Ibis is a medium-sized wading bird, resembling the Great Blue Heron in shape. They prefer to feed in marshes, cypress swamps, salt marshes and mangrove swamps while nesting in inland lakes, barriers and marshes. Typical food includes crustaceans and insects, swallowing them whole after first cleaning off any mud their prey may be covered in.

The problem is once these birds are fed our food - they are addicted. Kind of like us and blogging. heehee

But they will attack humans for food and become lazy at chasing their prey. That forces man to kill them because they are now a danger to us. This is sad to me. This bird was fine until some idiot decided it would be cute if they fed it. I have never experienced anything like this. The problem now is my kids are terrified of any bird now. My son used to chase them in hopes of getting a closer look - now he is horrified if a bird flies near us. Even if it is a sparrow. I hope he will outgrow this!! I wasn't sure how badly he was affected until last night (our first night home) after I rocked him and was putting him in bed, he whispered "I no like those birds mama, I scared". My heart broke!

The birds I took pics of were hovering around our table at the hotel or other eateries in Fla. This leads me to believe - they are being fed or eating what's left. Our hotel had staff constantly walking the grounds to pick up any food/drinks left on tables or by the pool. They were actually so attentive, I guess that leads me to think the guests are at fault. Sparrows and black birds repeatedly hopped on the tables. I am used to seagulls or pelicans hovering and flying around but I have never experienced so many birds come so close to me in my life.