The Bittersweet Mornings of a Bird Collision Monitor

Blackpoll Warbler

Imagine yourself as that Blackpoll Warbler pictured to the left. You were born and raised in the treeline (where forest meets tundra) of northern Canada. No civilization around you for miles, and you enjoyed your days of basically learning about being a Blackpoll Warbler (I'm guessing that's a first year bird in that picture, as the adults do acquire this nonbreeding plumage too). The days grow shorter and you begin to feel this instinct to fly south. Luckily, you have this built-in GPS system in your mind, which is great because this is your first time on this journey and you have no idea where you're going. Knowing about your long journey, you fatten yourself up, doubling your body weight with insects. Now that you're fuel gauge is on full, you wait until the sun dips below the horizon to begin your migration. On your way south, you read the stars, the timing of sunrise and sunset, and even follow the magnetic field of the earth with your innate compass to know that you are going the right direction. In fact, your fuel supply of fat allows you to fly as much as 300 miles in a single night! You feel good about yourself, until one night you come across a foreign landscape. It's looks like the starry sky above you laden with lights, but there are towers everywhere. Lights are reflecting in every direction, and you soon become disoriented. You try to escape and see a tree to land in... but it was only a reflection off a window, and before you know it, you're on the ground with the worst headache ever. But, you were lucky enough to be alive.

Window collisions are the #1 killer of migrating birds in the United States. Millions of birds lose their lives trying to navigate through cities. However, there are many who manage to survive a collision, but they are then vulnerable to many dangers. Hungry gulls and crows, even rats, take the opportunity of an injured bird for an easy meal. Cars, bikes, and people might crush them, vacuums and street sweepers will suck them up, and they can get trapped in doors and alleys. There is hope for these travelers, and this is where I come in the picture.

Wood Thrush

I get up early, usually two hours before sunrise so that I have enough time to get to Chicago before hungry gulls and crows wake up. I'm equipped with a net and a backpack containing paper bags, paper clips, Ziploc bags, a sharpie, tissues, a flashlight, and gloves to wear for a bat or bird of prey. If I come across a live bird, I try to sneak up on it so it doesn't fly away. Many birds just recover from a bang in the head and are not injured, so I have to chase them down until I pin them against a building with the net. Others are still dizzy and I can easily grab them. I then take out a bag and record the date, time, the address of the building, what side of the building I found the bird, my initials, and the bird species. I then place the bird in the paper bag with either a tissue or napkin on the bottom so it can grip to something, and close the top with a paper clip. If I come across a dead bird, I record the same info and put the body in a Ziploc bag. All this information is recorded to help buildings to become more bird friendly, while the dead birds are used at the Field Museum for research. Because of all this, Chicago was the first city to start out a "Light's Out" program in which some buildings turn off their lights during the spring and fall to help birds safely navigate the city. Collisions have decreased since this program was started. This past weekend of September 25-26th, 2010, I rescued 25 birds, 21 of which were on Sunday. These included a Wood Thrush, Virginia Rail, Eastern Wood-pewee, Lincoln's Sparrow, Blackpoll Warbler, Ruby-crowned Kinglet, Red-breasted Nuthatch, 3 Golden-crowned Kinglets, and many White-throated Sparrows and Brown Creepers. I also had roughly the same number of dead birds too. It has been my busiest weekend of bird collision monitoring so far.

Golden-crowned Kinglet

So why do I do this? Well, back to you being that Blackpoll Warbler. You would now be able to head to the Atlantic coast to refuel for another crazy journey ahead of you that only Blackpoll Warblers do. Get this, you'll have to go on a 48 hour nonstop flight from New Jersey to South America... that's a bird that weighs 25 grams flying 3,000 miles over the ocean for 2 days! Holy crap that's amazing! A total of 5,000 miles for a bird that fits in the palm of your hand, and that's only a one way flight... Once spring comes, that bird has to come back ( I don't think I even put 10,000 miles on my jeep in a year). The Wood Thrush and the Wood-pewee have to fly 18 hours over the Gulf of Mexico to the tropics. And the other birds are heading to the southern United States for their vacation. I rescued them so that they may be able to complete these amazing journeys. I wish them the best of luck on their long journey, and I hope to see them again. Only this time, I want to see them singing their hearts out in the trees and not at a base of a building.

Verse of the day: "Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" Matthew 6:26 (ESV)

Brown Creeper

White-throated Sparrow

Lincoln's Sparrow

Dead Northern Flicker