It’s As Natural As Birth
Every birder dreads it. You’re enjoying just sitting and watching your backyard friends feeding, playing and singing. And then, you spot it. Sitting on one of the arms of your feeder station: a little guy that seems quite unsure of what it’s doing there. You continue to watch but they don’t move. You walk out to the feeder and they make a feeble attempt to get away. You know at that moment that you are looking at a bird not long for this earth.
That’s what happened to me this past weekend and I’ve got to share it with you.
I was taking care of filling my feeders and almost missed her. Heading out my back door, I caught a quick glimpse of a small bird flying right toward me and then veering off at the last second to land on the side of my brick house. From there, she dropped down to the patio and I could see she was breathing heavily. I finished what I was doing and came back outside to see she had her head buried in her wing feathers for warmth. I walked right up to her and spoke and she obviously was unaware of me. That sick feeling immediately set in. It had been cold that day and was going to be colder tonight. I am not a licensed rehabilitator nor do I have the equipment or training to do that. I knew if I brought her inside in any type of container it was more likely to stress her out. I did not want that. I sent an email to a long-time birding expert and trained rehabilitator but did not get a response before I went to bed.
I know a lot of non-birding people would laugh at this but I couldn’t stop thinking about that little bird. When I took my dog out before bed I noticed she had gotten under a piece of wood for cover. Since it was supposed to snow a little that night, I felt better about her chances.
The Next Morning
When I went out early the next morning, all I could see was this…
Looking closer, I could see this…
We have hawks that make regular rounds but I’ve never known one to even bother with goldfinches. I thought maybe it was a cat but the feather pattern looked too much like the doves that get killed by the hawks.
I said a short prayer for her. I was struck by the feeling that, as cruel and harsh as it may seem, this was probably a much quicker and humane way to die than slowly suffocating. I wish I could have made her last hours more comfortable but I don’t believe I would have.
I’m going to stop writing for now. Please let me know how you’ve handled this in your own yard and how you found peace with it. Leave me a comment below.
Thank you for reading. I promise my posts will be much more uplifting in the future.
Jeff
Get Your Free Copy of
Birdwatching for Beginners
Click Below To Be Taken To The Signup Page
It is so difficult to see such joyful creatures suffering. It’s as if there simply should not be an end to their freedom and their beauty; we somehow believe that surely God will make an exception in His plan… I reacted much as you did when I saw a wren lying motionless under our larges window about 2 months ago. I knew by the angle of its neck that it had collided with the unyielding glass. With a leaden heart I said a prayer, lifted the small body and buried it on the edge of the woods, placing a large stone over the firmed earth to discourage predators. I transplanted and watered-in some spurge over the spot as a reminder.
Hi Miser,
It is very difficult for me to watch as well. I had actually read that it’s better to seal them in a ziploc bag and throw them away because predators will dig them up and can become sick and die themselves. I can’t bring myself to do it either. In this case, I didn’t have to make that call.
In regards to your dead wren, I’d like to know if you have full window blinds or not. Sounds weird but after we had our windows replaced our old blinds would not fit in the same space. I think before we had them replaced I knew of about two birds that had hit a window and died in seven years. Now, it seems like many more are at least bumping it from close to the house even with curtains, screens and fabric in front of the window.
Do you use anything on your windows and do you have much trouble with collisions where you are?
Jeff
Hey Jeff,
I suspect it was the reflected woodland image in the upper portion of the large window that disoriented the poor wren. I had been hearing several of them in vigorous play earlier that day, and had noticed them zooming among the tall tulip poplars growing in the front yard. The window involved extends vertically from a stairway landing upward, and although we have window treatments on the lower 2/3 portion, the upper third is arch-shaped, plain glass. Unfortunately at our ages the top portion is not accessible for us. However, I’m planning to have a handyman do routine chores this spring, and I will have him hang a bright multi-colored stained-glass ornament in the arch while he’s here.
This is the only collision incident I can recall in our 7 years here, and although I have heard the alarming thump of a stunned bird several times in my life, this is the first time I can recall ever having witnessed a fatal collision in my yard. Hopefully it was the first and the last 🙁
So sorry to learn of your experience with the respiratory infection that leads to finch/siskind eye disease. Our daughter is a veterinarian, and I’ve been googling for additional info on this.
I’ve tapered off my feeding of both the large-beak and small-beak wild birds. and no longer hang the cedar finch feeder. I’m not seeing finches or pine siskins stopping by, but I will certainly remember for next year to clean and store the small finch feeder at the first signs of erratic motions or other symptoms.
Best regards to everyone here,
the ‘Miser
Hi Miser,
Good for you for wanting to put more window treatments on the upper part of the window. I know we started having more problems with this when we had to take down our blinds because they didn’t fit our new windows. Unfortunately, there’s really not room for much of anything now either. It should help reduce even further the number of collisions. Unfortunately, the dreaded thump can also mean they die elsewhere from the trauma so the fewer thumps the better. I’ve actually had to stop feeding on my patio because the mourning doves would feed there and wait until the last moment to fly away. Usually into the door 6 feet away. I’m sure they hit hard enough to hurt them.
You sound like you have a plan for keeping the disease to a minimum in your neck of the woods. Again, you should be thanked for caring that much AND taking action. Way to go!!!
I look forward to hearing how your window treatments helped.
Jeff