Robins dive-bomb postal carrier, breaking spirit

Rain, snow and sleet won't stop Canada Post workers, but the robins will.

One home in the city has had to make alterations to their mail delivery after their mail carrier refused to deliver mail because he was getting dive-bombed by a protective family of robins.

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"Oddly enough, nothing happens to me. But other people, including family members and friends, people who come over to the house to visit, if theyget close to the stairs to go up the porch, then the robins kind ofdive-bombthem and go after them. They don't quite hit them or peck at them but they'redive-bombingthem," saidMelanie Verhaeghe, owner of the home and a senior producer at CBC.

This is the second year therobins havenested in the rafters of the porch.Verhaeghe said ithas been neat to watch the baby birds hatch, until they found out it would be affecting their mail delivery.

A phone call from CanadaPost told the family that their mailcarrier was startled and concerned about the dive-bombing robins, and they needed to find alternative arrangements.

"They were really quite good about it. We had lots of conversations about it and we kind of came up with a solution which was to take the mailbox off the house and put it at the bottom of the steps so they wouldn't have to go up the steps and risk annoying the robins,"Verhaeghesaid.

"It's kind of funny because our family and friends sort of know that if they're going to come to the house, they're going to get a dive-bomb."

Attacks on Canada Post are a regularity

"In this case, we fortunately had a really understanding customer and we were just able to have the box moved and that way we don't disturb the wildlife and our employee is safe. So it works out pretty well for everyone,"saidEugeneKnapik, a spokesperson for Canada Post.

This is the first instance Knapikhas heard of where the offending party was a robin. However, attacks by birds, typically hawks and crows, have become a more common problem for postal carriers.

"It happens from time to time during nesting season," Knapik said.

In a case two years ago, a postal worker in Calgarytried to face off with a dive-bombinghawk, Knapik told CBC. The carrierdonned a bicycle helmet and when the bird attackedthe worker, the birdmanaged to crack the helmet.

For the safety of Canada Post's staff, the company typically tries to make alterative arrangements with clients when obstacles present themselves, such as was seen in the case of Winnipeg's dive-bombing robins.