Bird Vs. Window

A male scarlet tanager had the bad luck of smacking into a window here at the Conservation Center in Concord earlier this week. But it had the good luck of smacking into a window near the desk of Lauren Kras, an easement steward here at the Forest Society who is also a bird researcher, photographer and president of N.H. Audubon's Seacoast chapter. 

After the bird hit the window and fell to the ground, Lauren used her birding experience to pick up the bird using a "safe grip" that protects the bird from further harm, and placed it into a cardboard box. This allowed the dazed bird to rest in a dark, quiet and safe place during the time it was unnable to fly away from potential predators. The box in these situations must be kept in a place free from pets, loud noises or anything else that would add more stress for the bird.  

"Before placing the bird in the box, I noted no external injuries, and its breathing appeared normal, indicating no likely internal injuries," Lauren said. "After a half hour I tried to release it, but the bird didn't fly. I put the bird back into the box for another 45 minutes and then tried to release it again. The bird flew to a tree where it remained for five minutes before it started to actively forage and sing. If he had not flown after a prolonged time, I would have called a rehab center."

Bird and window collisions are common, and many birds die as a result. To avoid this happening to birds in your yard, you can put up patches or strips onto your windows so that the  birds will be able to see that there's something there. You can find such products at these websites:

 http://www.collidescape.org/ 

and http://www.abcbirdtape.org/

To learn more about scarlet tanagers, visit the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website. 

Lauren will be teaching birding skills tomorrow, May 28, at a free birding hike on the Powder Major's Farm and Forest property in Madbury, Lee and Durham. It promises to be a wonderful opportunity to learn about New Hampshire's breeding songbirds.