Bird Hospital

Into every childhood, a dead bird must fall, it seems.

Yesterday, the kids and I heard a distinct "thunk" at one of the front windows. My heart sank because I recognized it as a bird hitting the window. We opened the door cautiously, and sure enough. There was a poor Evening Grosbeak, a bright yellow, black and white male, on its back, mouth open, sides heaving, talons clenched. It didn't look good. I decided we should just stand back and watch for a little while to see if he was going to come out of it on his own and to make sure one of our feral cats didn't get him while he was recovering. Unfortunately, he had landed right next to a cat dish. I warned Finley and Evelyn that usually birds die after hitting windows and that we shouldn't have too high hopes for his recovery. Bird's necks are amazingly flexible and I had read somewhere that it's not usually a broken neck that does them in, but rather the head injury or being eaten by something while they're dazed.

We took turns watching for about 15 minutes and in that time he had managed to flip himself rightside up, his beak was now closed and he was breathing slower. We decided then that he might actually have a chance of full recovery if he was protected from the cats and elements. We fixed up a box with a soft cloth inside my lovebird, Esther's, extra travel cage with some food, water and perches. I put on my latex gloves and picked up the bird. He actually gripped my fingers with his talons so that was a good sign. His wings didn't feel broken. We put him in the box to start with, covered the cage and took him to the upstairs bathroom where we could turn on the heater and keep the room warmer.

All day, the kids and I took turns going to check on him every half hour or so. For most of the day he stayed huddled in the box, but actually perched on the rolled cloth. His droppings looked normal and there was no blood in them so I figured that ruled out major internal injuries. Then in the evening he managed to hop up to the lowest perch. By bedtime, he had managed to get to the top perch and was looking a little more bright eyed and alert.

This morning when we checked on him, he flew to the other side of the cage and back to a perch with no problem. We decided to let him go and see if he could make it on his own. We took him down to the front porch again and opened the cage towards the bird feeder and trees where the rest of flock was eating. I opened the door and he took off beautifully! He must have been very hungry because he just kind of camped out on the feeder and ate for about five minutes! Then he flew off. I wish every injured bird story ended that way... Best wishes little bird buddy!

By the way, the kids wanted to make sure no other birds made the same mistake of flying into the reflection on the windows. This set off a flurry of cutting and taping and now our front windows are sporting several scary cat faces, kites and abstract art-by-two-year-olds to ward off any unsuspecting birds.

Evening Grosbeaks

Lately, we've had unusual visitors to our birdfeeders. These birds seem so exotic compared to the usual brown, grey and blue around here. Today I counted at least eleven of them, some juveniles and some adult males and females. Also, the Blackheaded Grosbeaks are here, too. They are black and orange and also very flashy. I tried to take my own photos of these birds but I couldn't get close enough for my camera to do them justice so I used one from the web. It's been fun watching them. They are very loud and eat a lot! I had to go refill the feeder after they left. If you get a chance, you should look them up on the internet to see some really great pictures of these beautiful birds.