People who live in glass houses…see a lot of unconscious birds.
Our home is a lodge-style dwelling with large windows – a lot of them. It’s the dream home for someone like me that can’t stand being cooped up, but it’s a nightmare for birds. I know there are stickers and things to help birds realize the glass is there. We’ve tried them – they don’t work.
I think the poor birds see a reflection of the outdoors in the window, rather than the inside of the house, and they just zoom straight into the mysterious force field of glass. It’s not as if the windows are clean – at least for more than a day. You’d think the spider poo and sticky grandchild handprints would be a dead giveaway that something is there, right?
Whenever we hear the tell-tale thump of feathers hitting the glass at 40 mph, one of us will rush outside, hoping to beat the cats to the usually unconscious bird. Some smack the glass and fly away, and some don’t survive, but most are just knocked silly for a bit.
It’s truly an educational experience to see some of the birds up close. We’ve met blue jays, cardinals, starlings, catbirds, robins, and all sorts of other birds. No crows, though, because they seem to be smarter than the average bird. Or maybe they don’t fly as low as other birds.
We once rescued a catbird that followed us around the rest of the summer. Wherever we went outside, it would sit on a branch and sing its happy little catbird song.
There was one victim of the Windows of Doom that I didn’t recognize. It was a larger bird, but unlike any I’d ever seen. After a bit of research (which involved someone shouting, “Bring me the bird book!” and someone else responding with, “Which one?”) we discovered it was a yellow-billed cuckoo.
The most amazing thing was that we’d been hearing the cuckoo for an entire summer, but had never figured out what that sound was. At last, the mystery was solved. Click here to listen.
But my favorite bird rescue adventure was this little lady.
I’m assuming female, but was too polite to ask. The lack of a ruby throat means either female or juvenile male.
Notice the tiny lashes made of individual feathers.
Hummingbirds move so quickly, I’d never have known about those tiny eyelashes if she hadn’t hit the window at top speed.
This happened several years ago, when the baby of the family was still pretty young. She’s always loved animals, but the hummingbird, with that long, needle-like beak, made her a bit nervous.
I finally coaxed her into holding the tiny bird when the hummingbird suddenly darted out of her hand, making her screech, worried she may lose an eye as the bird took off. It was so funny, but I guess you had to be there.
We didn’t have a hummingbird feeder when we first moved in, but I’m assuming the previous owners did. Hummingbirds would hover right outside the window as if to say, “Hey, where’s the grub?” One even tried to fly inside several times.
We now have two feeders that we struggle to keep filled. The hummingbirds eat a lot, but the bees -they can empty a feeder in just a few hours. I don’t mind, though. It’s funny to watch them scatter when the hummingbirds show up, the bees doing a dance that says, “Mine! Move along, bird!”
We’ve made sure to keep the feeders well away from the windows, hoping to cut down on hummingbird crashes, but they still happen from time to time.
Just yesterday, one of the tiny new kittens ran across the patio with something chirping loudly in its mouth. At first, I thought it was a mouse, and thought, “Well done, tiny kitten!”
But my daughter got a better look and shouted, “It’s got a hummingbird!”
That poor kitten finally let the dazed bird go as we chased it across the yard, and the hummingbird flew to safety.
If you have any bird-saving suggestions for our Windows of Doom, feel free to fill me in.