A bird just flew into my living room window. Straight at it. Head
first.
The sound of impact was so loud I jumped. I watched as the bird was thrown
across my balcony.
I held my breath as the bird lay on the ground twitching. This weekend is World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD). WMBD raises awareness of Bird Migration, the long distance flight birds make each year in order to find the best ecological conditions and habitats for feeding, breeding and raising their young. Unfortunately migratory birds face a number of natural and man-made obstacles along the way.
The number of bird deaths involving glass is staggeringly high.
The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)
estimate that millions of birds die this way each year.
But why?
Birds can’t understand that glass is solid, they’ll see the reflection of clouds or trees and assume it’s open space for them to fly in.
As it’s such a frequent occurrence it’s likely you’ll experience it a few
times in your lifetime, so here are 5 actions you need to take when it does* (so
that you don’t panic and end up making the situation worse).
1.
Examine the bird for external injuries, if the
wings are both held properly, neither dangling and the eyes seem normal then
allow the bird to recover on its own.
2. If
the bird has a noticeable injury, then you will need to contact your local
wildlife rehabilitator as quickly as possible.
3. Is
the bird in a safe space? Place the bird in a dark container (such as a shoe
box) and leave it somewhere quiet out of reach of pets and other predators.
Allow enough time for the bird to recover (which could be between 20 minutes to
2 hours).
4. Do
not try to give it food and water, and resist handling it. Do not open the box
indoors to check on it or it might escape into your house and be hard to get
back out!
5.
Take the box outside every 15 minutes or so and
open it—if the bird flies off, that’s that! If it doesn’t recover in a couple
of hours, take it to a wildlife rehabilitator.
Can I prevent it happening?
You can help the birds to realise it’s solid glass by hanging wind
chimes near your windows or by using window decals (stickers in the shape of
birds)
Luckily the bird that hit my window was in a safe space (no
predators lurking on my balcony). I was able to leave it to recover in peace.
25 minutes later the bird flew away, after leaving a
generous sized amount of bird poop!
Each one of us can contribute to the conservation of all birds including migratory ones, so that all our future generations can enjoy the beauty of nature.
Please share to help spread awareness of WMBD.
Thanks for reading xx
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