a little birdie hit my window this morning

[maverick]

i had a little bird fly at my window and hit it really hard earlier this morning.

i called old dominion animal health center and spoke with a really nice and helpful lady named katie. i told her what happened and asked if i can bring her in, if they would be able to help. katie said that i could, and then added that what would be better is if i take a shoebox or something similar, cut holes in it, put a small towel or cloth in it, and put the bird in there for an hour or so. she said that i can then open the box, and if she's okay, she should fly out. if she's not okay, they said to bring her in. katie added that the drive would be more stress for the bird, and what she needs right now is just to rest and get over the shock.

they closed environment provides a feeling of security, i guess.

she didn't resist when i picked her up, and i could feel her breathing.

i called katie back and asked what i can give her to eat, and she said that the bird shouldn't eat anything right now, and probably won't be able to.

this is the first time i've been through something like this.

so i'm waiting - hopefully everything will be alright!

[maverick]

i just came across this article describing how to prevent window strikes and what to do if i bird does fly into your window.

it was a big window (4' x 4' pane of glass) that the bird flew into, incidentally.

it's my uncle's home that we are renting, and we were just discussing replacing windows with more energy efficient ones. maybe we can put in glass that is less likely to reflect.

i was getting ready to head to the office when this happened, but god only knows how many times this has happened when we weren't home.

hopefully the bird is just stunned and hasn't suffered any serious injury.

[bluedawg]

i hope she's okay at the end of the hour. i've had this happen to me several times (once at a bus shelter across from my office! one of my students came running to tell me, poor thing), and i've had both happy and sad endings. please keep us posted!

[maverick]

hey bluedawg,

i opened up the box to let her go after an hour and she moved her head around but made no effort to come out of the box. so i let her rest a little longer. i tried again after another hour with the same result. i called old dominion and am waiting for a call back to see what i should do next.

attached is a picture. i should mention that this is a shoebox for kids size 9.5 shoes (my 3 year old son's shoes), just so you have a reference for how large the bird is. she fits in my hand, and i have small hands.

[maverick]

hey - good news! our little friend stood up when i opened the box. she looked around, jumped out of the box, and tried to fly. one wing opened and the other didn't quite open and she hobbled around a bit. i was on the phone with katie at old dominion as this happened, and she said to put her back in the box and let her get some more rest. she said to try again a couple more times once an hour. if after the next two times, she isn't flying, katie said to go on and bring her in. katie said not to give her food or water. but our friend did poop a little. so we turned the towel over so she would have a clean place to sit.

[maverick]

hi folks,

i opened up the box again, and our little friend stood up, jump out, tried to fly and opened both wings. she didn't go far, but she flew to a nearby bush. i think she's going to be okay.

oh, and we got a little more poop. funny how the idea of poop is pretty disgusting. but when your newborn baby poops, or in this case, our little recovering bird poops, we think - aw, she pooped!

[bluedawg]

yay! i'm happy she was able to fly into the bush; that's probably a good sign. i'm glad she crashed into a nice house. thanks for the updates!

[yeti]

Thanks for the update, maverick. I'm glad to hear she's doing better. My experiences with assisting injured birds have not gone so well -- even the time that a bird flew into a window right next to the table where I and a handful of other avian scientists and vets-in-training were eating lunch. Keep us posted!