This morning as I was getting ready to go out the door and three quick window crashes happened all at once. I was in disbelief that three birds banged into the window, it is a big window but three birds? Has this ever happened at your house? Well anyway I went outside to find three female Purple Finches, two were on the floor of the deck and another perched on some welded wire fencing Meg uses to block the dogs from chasing a car or truck that might go by.
This female Purple Finch might have hit the glass door and not the big window. It was the first to fly away unharmed after about 10 minutes hanging on to the fencing.
No the decking is not that dirty, that is tiny ice crystals, I was worried this finch was going to freeze to the decking. Yet he flew away unharmed after maybe 15 minutes.
That is not a very happy look is it? Finally after 20 minutes this female Purple Finch flew away.
So with a short delay I went off to do my job for the day and didn't have to figure out what to do with these stunned birds.
The worst bird crash I ever had here was an adult Red-tailed Hawk that flew into the patio door glass and was dead in one of the patio chairs that was against the door glass. It was on Martin Luther King's birthday
12 comments:
Three! Formation Kamakaze flying.
I have tried all kinds of things hanging on the windows and glass doors to protect the birds~Still they crash~glad these were fine. gail
Yeah, we had a multi-crash event some time in spring when there was obviously some courting and some fighting going on. All participants of the love triangle were too distracted and hit the window, two lightly and one hard (recovered after maybe an hour, I was sure it was a goner). Glad all worked out.
I've never had any crash of this kind. Wish it happened here too so I could take some amazing shots!:) Fantastic captures!
Kind of upsetting - amazing how many of them are able to get up and fly away after lying stunned for a time. Like Gail, I've tried stickers and other stuff to prevent the problem, but still it happens...
I guess they were scared by something that made their flight pattern look for what apparently looked like a clear path. Never had more than one at a time.
A hawk? I am surprised it didn't break the glass, those babies are big.
Randy, this is such an important topic. Our billions of windows kill millions of birds each year. It is the single largest cause of bird deaths. We can hang strips outside our windows or hang stain glass or some other bright colored object in the windows. If you walk outside on a cloudy day especially . . . our windows reflect the sky so perfectly that they fool the birds. I have red balls and screens in some of my windows all year long. It is very distressing. I did once see a grouse being chased by a hawk . . . the hawk was just about to catch the grouse with its talons, when the grouse took a sharp right . . . right into my slider doors . . . right in front of me. I ran out and its neck was broken. The redtail was crying out . . . up in the Rock Maple. I have never had three hits like yours . . . but have read that many birds, who hit . . . do not die right away . . . but after a few minutes do fly away. They may die later from brain injury however. There is no free view. Terribly sad for the birds, but we can fix it somehow.
Have had several encounter with birds, but none such as this. Not a good way to start the day, huh?
What a sad story. Hopefully, they will be O.K.
We have a number of picture windows and patio doors, and the first spring here, during peak fledging, we had a number of crashes. None as severe as your red-tailed hawk, but we have had a couple of stunned birds. I usually pop them into a dark box for half an hour (so they don't get eaten by the wildlife while they're stunned). Once they're vertical, we let them go. Glad your finches were only a little stunned, and were able to go on their way.
Never had more than 1 at a time. Only once did one die because of it (a little goldfinch). It is surprising that your windows weren't at least cracked when that hawk hit with all that force! You must have thick windows...triple paned?! Happy Holidays to you and Meg!
That is so depressing. As Carol above said, there are remedies so the birds know it is suicidal to go there. On a light note, maybe there is such a thing as 'winter depression' for animals too. So they can't think well, or their judgement is affected by the cold. I just heard a scientis yesterday who is a behavioral ecologist, but her work is on marine life, i wonder if there is also behavioral studies for terrestrial animals affected by winter.
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