For some reason, the birds who live around here have a habit of crashing into the windows of our back room. I can't figure it out. Our windows are not enormous, and they are certainly not particularly clean. Nevertheless, at least once a month, and recently more like several times a week, we hear the thud of a small bird crashing into one of the windows. Most often they just shake it off and fly away, but they break their necks often enough that we now have a small birdy cemetary out back. Anyway, today we heard the thunk and found a small but still upright female goldfinch on the deck. She was moving both her wings, which is a hopeful sign, but the kids and I were afraid that she would freeze very quickly just sitting there in the cold. The children wanted very much to bring her inside (the cats also thought this was a fine idea!), but Ed and I thought the change of environment (plus the cats) might give her a heart attack. So Ed wrapped her in a sweatshirt and put that in a box and left her on the deck. We left her in peace for about half an hour (a rather trying half hour, as Katie really wanted to check on her every 30 seconds), then Ed and Katie went out to see how she was doing. Ed was holding her in his hands, and Katie was asking couldn't she please hold her, when the little bird just Took Off, flying across the yard and up into one of the big oak trees. All better. Ed says it was just amazingly cool to see her take off and fly away.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
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4 comments:
Oh, I am so glad this little bird's story had a happy ending.
Ed's idea was a good one. When the Boychick went through his bird-rescuing phase, we weren't sure what to do when the Bird Center at the Rio Grande Nature Center was closed. Their help-line told us to put them in a shoebox lined with paper towels and place the whole thing in a the garage, or another cool, dark place.
We'd then take them down to the Bird center next day. The Boychick was responsible for saving many baby birds this way. The most interesting was the baby red-tail hawk.
A hawk Would be neat! And I will keep the garage in mind (no cats in there!)
As many of our chickens as hawks have eaten, I'm not sure a baby hawk would have a fighting chance around here. ;) A couple of years ago, it would have been way cool. Now we prefer crows, because they chase off hawks.
We have a large picture window in our living room, so we're all too familiar with that particular thunk. *sigh* Glad the goldfinch survived.
we used to have the same problem at the house I lived in as a teenager. Big picture window + open meadow full of birds = Bad Combo.
We had our share of dead ones and those we nursed back to health. I tried to convince my dad to put a big black duct tape X over the window, convinced that would deter the little things! He never did.
It is rewarding to have them fly off when they are well. Hopefully there will be more success stories in your future!
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