Strange Sights in Philly

June 5, 2009 • 3:40 pm • POSTED BY Gretchen

As anyone who lives in Philly knows, a lot of strange things can be seen in Philly – crazy Elvis look-alike hanging out a foodcourt, odd bumper stickers on telephone poles, etc etc. All these unique sightings, i think, help to make Philly it’s own unique place. Well, walking home last night, I discovered another unique sighting that I just had to document.

I was walking over Vine street where it crosses over 676, and there is a built up section where flower bushes have been planted. This built up section is about hip-high, and there I was enrapt in my music when all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye, I saw what I thought was a bird about to fly off from the flower bed right at me!

Having caught my attention, I looked a little closer and discovered it was a bird figurine that looks like it was carefully set on the flower bed. Why and for what purpose will always be a mystery – just one of the many mysterious things you will find in Philly. What really intrigued about this was the fact that this bird figurine was actually very realistic. It was about 6-8″ tall, and it is hard to tell from the photos (I only had my phone camera on me), but the bird’s wings and body look to have been made from real bird feathers.

This was no cheap plastic toy which made the experience of finding this little guy all the more strange and unnerving. It actually had a strange beauty to it – so why had it been abandoned? Or had it purposefully been left there to fool people like me into thinking a bird was about to fly at them?

I debated about rescuing the little fellow – but it had been raining and he was soaked, and I really didn’t want to carry home a strange wet fake bird. But I documented his attempt at flight and decided I would post him on our blog to memorialize it. I will look for him on my walk home tonight, but I fear he will have disappeared into the night as mysteriously as he appeared.