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Mockingbirds Attack Patients At SW Fla. Clinic

VENICE (CBS4) – A group of nesting mockingbirds is causing chaos in the parking lot of a Florida emergency care clinic.

Patients arriving at the Gulf Coast Medical Group Urgent Care Center in Venice are being forced to take cover to avoid attacks from the nesting mockingbirds.

Manager Kathy Carbone calls them "mean birds." She was recently pecked by the mockingbird after she went outside to investigate patient complaints.

Workers found the nest late last week after a patient says he was attacked by the bird. His shirt had a hole near the shoulder, but he was not injured.

Officials from the Wildlife Center of Venice used yellow caution tape to block off an area near the tree until the birds leave. They say it takes about two weeks for eggs to hatch and two more weeks for the baby birds to fly away.

The mockingbird is Florida's state bird.

(TM and © Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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