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| This Yellow-rumped Warbler hit my window in the Lakeside neighborhood on October 3 at 10:50 am or so. |
Thousands of migrants are coursing through Duluth today. We've had several heavy songbird migration days this fall when I've been home, but this was the first "thud" I've heard, and this poor little Yellow-rumped Warbler's head injury was the result.
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| The partly closed left eye is a sign of a head injury. The bird was also unable to grasp with one foot at first. |
The little guy was hunkered down, right side up at least, at the base of my box elder, and readily let me pick him up. I regret not keeping him indoors to let him feed on mealworms before releasing, but within 2 minutes the eye was open and the foot grasping, and since I don't have a good indoor flight situation anymore, I figured on balance he might be better off just going.
Daniel Klem conducted a study which indicated that about 50 percent of the birds that take off after hitting windows survive. I don't like those odds--it's so comforting to think that when they fly off, they'll be just fine. But this is exactly why we need to confront this problem!
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| Last look--he flew here by himself, and was just about to disappear. Good luck, little guy! |
At 2:15 pm, a second Yellow-rump glanced against the window. It started dropping, but caught itself in flight and flew off. I hope it doesn't have any injuries, but the sound was a lot quieter than when the other warbler hit. Had two more about 4 pm--again, they both flew off without any obvious injuries. So FOUR Yellow-rumped Warbler strikes in one day.
4 Yellow-rumped Warblers
