MARCH 29, 2006
One
afternoon, sitting quietly reading in my reading chair, I became startled by a loud crash against the window. There on the ground was a stunned dove. It had flown into our well
Windexed window. I was able to revive the beautiful little creature, and after a few minutes off it flew.
I began to wonder; how many birds fly into windows daily? There are probably no statistics on this, or so I thought, until I ran into this letter to the editor of the National Geographic. In the January 2004 issue Marcia Fowle, President of the New York City Audubon Society and Kenneth R. Wysocki, President of the Chicago Ornithological Society wrote:
"The problem of bird collisions with windows is not limited to Toronto. Since 1978 volunteers in New York and Chicago have found 31,400 birds of 147 different species that were killer or injured in this way. Nor is the problem limited to major cities. It occurs at picture windows and office parks-wherever birds and glass co-exist. Window strikes are a major yet overlooked threat to migratory bird populations, many of which are in decline. We need to focus the best minds in the fields of architecture, glass engineering, and landscape design on developing creative solutions to this conservation challenge. Otherwise, many of today's most beloved birds will just be empty names to our grandchildren."
Sometimes nature speaks to us in the strangest ways to get our undivided attention. One little dove opened my eyes to a real challenge that I had never ever thought about before.
The unintended consequences of our actions are not something to take lightly. Regarding declining song bird populations, I had always pointed the finger at domestic cats and declining habitat, but now I am looking through the glass clearly and we have tried something new. We have placed our bird feeders close to our windows and we have not had a crash in months.
--Peter