Saturday 20 July 2013

A Short Life by a Merry One.






This beautiful little bird hit our kitchen window this morning with such a bang.   I went out to look but couldn't see it, so I thought it had probably flown away.   We have our feeders near to the window and we get wonderful bird life and a wide variety.   But the down side is that when the parents bring all their young, the young are so inexperienced that they tend to fly into the window.   We get this two or three times a day but mostly only a glancing blow, so that after sitting on the ground for a couple of minutes they fly off.

This was quite different - it was a hard knock, and sadly this young goldfinch didn't survive.   The farmer stretched out its wing - it is such a beautiful bird with the most exquisite markings.   What a shame that its life has been cut short like this.   But as the farmer says - the sparrow hawk flies through every day and the farm cats are always on the prowl (although they seem to prefer rabbit) , so chances of survival to adulthood for all the baby birds around are not guaranteed.

But it is sad.

11 comments:

Bovey Belle said...

Our neighbours down the hill have stick on black "hawk" shaped stickers on their plate glass windows. They are meant to deter the birds - not sure how efficient they are though.

What a shame about the little Goldfinch, but at least it was instantaneous.

Cloudia said...

Thanks for testing my heart. It works!


Aloha

MorningAJ said...

They are such pretty birds - it's a shame. I assume you left it where one of the scavengers could find it. It would have made a meal for somebody.

Heather said...

It's so sad that this is the only way we are able to see them at close quarters. I am amazed at the knocks they are able to cope with and have often rushed outside expecting the worst only to find that the bird has already flown off unscathed.

bea's blog said...

I would suggest black bird of prey stickers as well on your windows.
So this will not happen again!
Really sad!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beatrice

Crafty Green Poet said...

always sad to see the young birds die, but yes, not many of them make adulthood.

Holdfinches are so pretty

Terra said...

What a pretty bird and how sad.
When I worked in a building with floor to ceiling windows I bought decals (no glue, you can take them down easily) of owls and posted them strategically on the windows. It deterred the birds.

Acornmoon said...

It is sad, I hate that sickening thud too. The bird is very beautiful, such lovely markings.

Twiglet said...

Same happened to a young Great Tit here - I think they are probably escaping the Sparrow hawk when they fly headlong into our windows. I watched one make an attack on a Blue Tit yesterday - luckily it escaped into the oak tree. That's nature for you.

Gerry Snape said...

our death today was a fledgling blackbird that got too fond of the cherries and sadly was caught by a local cat in the field....sad!!

The Weaver of Grass said...

Thanks for the commiserations. We did have a sticker on the window last year but it didn't seem to make any difference. As so many of you say - it is just something that happens.