Yesterday afternoon I was puttering around in the kitchen when I heard a bird strike the window. Over the years I’ve had a lot of experience with birds flying into our windows and I can tell a hard thud from a light tap. This wasn’t a loud hit so I figured the bird must’ve flown into the window sideways and was probably alright.
I took a peek out the window and sure enough the little fella was on our deck looking a little stunned. As I watched him he appeared to be trying to move around when he suddenly laid on his side and stopped moving. Uh oh, looked like another casualty due to a window that was a little too clean. That’ll teach my wife!
I took another look about 5 minutes later and noticed he was moving again. I thought I’d better spring into action.
I grabbed a small box and a soft face cloth and went out to the deck to see if I could help this bird. I picked him up and put him in the box on top of our patio table. I started stroking his head and feathers as softly as I could with my finger and went back inside to let him recuperate alone.
For the next hour the bird just sat in the box without moving. I was beginning to wonder whether or not he was going to make it. I kept going to over to the window hoping to see an empty box.
Finally, after about an hour and a half, I went back out to check on him. His head was darting around, as if looking for a quick escape route, which I took as a good sign. When I went to stroke his feathers again he finally jumped up out of the box and flew away. Mission accomplished. He probably had a bit of a headache, but he was still among the living.
So, whenever you are about to go outside to clean any of your windows, remember our fine feathered flying friends and how a clean window is no friend of theirs.
It’s my new motto. “Dirty windows saves lives!”
