Ended badly... (1 Viewer)

...with a thump into the sliding glass back door I could hear on the other side of the house. I knew I'd find a bird down. Sure enough. A pine siskin on the ground just off the deck, its neck broken.

What I wasn't prepared for was the sharp-shinned hawk lying ON the deck, utterly still, its head lying on its back. A beautiful little juvie... Oh man.......

I hate these doors...

Katy Penland said:

.. the sharp-shinned hawk lying ON the deck, utterly still, its head lying on its back. A beautiful little juvie... Oh man.......

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so the sharpie is dead too?

Yes. Broken neck.

Katy Penland said:

Yes. Broken neck.

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sorry. that sucks, I always try to study them, because I don’t want their death to mean nothing, check their wing span, tail feathers, all that. Just give them the respect of knowing how beautiful and appreciated they are. not that it means anything it just helps me get over it, and I never really do (get over it).

sorry bout that.

I have been real lucky with window strikes the last few years, My feeders are far from windows and the nearest windows have screens or hanging feathers in front to prevent strikes.


at work the last few weeks, we have had a gold finch, hermit thrush and yellow warbler all hit a glass walk through and I checked all them before disposing of them. Always careful to check for any sings of life and wash up good after handling anything wild.

Thanks, WCR, I appreciate that. It really does suck, huh? Yeah, I have a box of latex gloves on hand for handling even just feathers I find on the property and always for handling any wildlife. Even so, I always scrub up with antibacterial soap afterward. Don't like cooties!

I do take the opportunity to look at the birds up close when this happens because they are so incredibly beautiful and we can't appreciate that from the distances we usually see them. I'm always struck by how light and insubstantial they are. Even this hawk, textbook dimensions all around, was seemingly sooooo much smaller in the hand than the perched adults apeared that I've photographed when they've come into the yard. A very humbling experience each time, I can tell you.

I don't know what to do about these strikes. We have so few most of the year, but as soon as fall/winter arrives and brings the siskins, they are the biggest casualties. Most of the time they just get winded and within a few minutes fly off. But this is the second siskin fatality in three days. We don't use feeders but scatter seed on the ground, 10+ feet away from the house. (We have 2 1/2 acres of mixed conifer forest, and the "yard" isn't grass but just forest floor cleared of its normal layer of duff.) Tape on the windows and doors on that side of the house have helped but it still happens. It sickens me every time I hear that "thump."

Sorry to hear this, Katy. I get upset if we get a greenfinch strike but I can't imagine how you must have felt with the hawk.

Thanks, Robin, it really does break your heart, doesn't it, regardless of the bird's size. I didn't even want to touch it at first, it just looked so... wrong lying there on the deck. When I did pick it up, it was still warm but with no heartbeat or breathing, I burst into tears. Such a waste. I felt so incredibly guilty that even with all the tape on the glass, the hawk was so intent on following the siskin, it just didn't see it. I've watched them as they've streaked into the scrub junipers here going after the smaller birds. They're such incredible flyers it doesn't compute that they'd hit something as big as a door. We get few raptors in this area as it is. <:-(

Katy Penland said:

...with a thump into the sliding glass back door I could hear on the other side of the house. I knew I'd find a bird down. Sure enough. A pine siskin on the ground just off the deck, its neck broken.

What I wasn't prepared for was the sharp-shinned hawk lying ON the deck, utterly still, its head lying on its back. A beautiful little juvie... Oh man.......

I hate these doors...

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Hi Katy,

This happens here in the UK too and the feature bird is usually a juv sparrowhawk although the intended prey is variable. Oddly, there have even been occasions when both birds have flown into walls rather than a window. This has probably been caused by a last gasp move on behalf of the prey and the hawk not having the experience to readjust. I watched a sparrowhawk take a finchn in open air and it was amazing to see how agile both birds were. The finch was finally caught when it climbed suddenly to avoid one lunge but subsequently stalled, alllowing the hawk to catch it. This is the first time I have actually seen a raptor catch anything in thirty years of bird watching and I have seen hundreds of attempts. It kinda puts raptors in their place really.

Ian

We had a near miss recently, by a sparrowhawk. We think it had missed a catch as it swooped over a feeder, continued towaards the doors, then swerved up at the last minute to avoid the glass - it gave us quite a start.

I'm sorta lucky that my house's previous owners had a dog who scratched up the back door so badly it's no longer "invisible". I'm not so fortunate with cat attacks though...

Ian Peters said:

This is the first time I have actually seen a raptor catch anything in thirty years of bird watching and I have seen hundreds of attempts. It kinda puts raptors in their place really.

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Yeah, we watched a young adult sharpie last year all summer long, chasing birds into trees, and the numbskull would even perch right on the chain link fence of the yard, or in a low branch of a tree *inside* the yard. LOL! Never saw him/her catch anything even when it finally learned that stealth was the way to work, not perch and hope some lunch would come along and offered itself up!

Just this afternoon, a pine siskin hit the glass and because it was turning very cold with a wind picking up, I gently picked it up from where it was lying on its back, eyes closed, and held it cupped in my hand for warmth for just over half an hour. It finally flew off and perched in a nearby juniper! I was so happy. I felt like I owed it (and every other bird in the yard) every chance I can to survive.