Date: 5/4/24 12:02 pm From: <ajf-jlf...> Subject: [birders] All's well that ends well (I hope)
Birders,
That all human activities may bring harm to our fellow travelers on planet Earth is a truism. Of course, we can't foresee just what the outcomes may be. When we built our present home with a wonderful view of the Saline River bottom land, we did not anticipate that our treasured view into that ecosystem would bring death to a dozen birds of eight different species from window strikes before I was able to install bird netting to prevent collisions as panicked feeding birds were flushed by hunting Cooper's Hawks into what was perceived as patches of open sky above the feeders. By far, the netting has prevented most such deaths. However, in now rare instances, we still hear a dull thud as a bird connects with a top corner of the trapezoidal windows that let us see the treetops, but remain essentially unprotected by the netting.
Today brought one of those dreaded sounds, and I looked up to see a small ball of fluff dropping toward the patio below. Running to the window expecting to see a lifeless form lying on the concrete, instead I found the tiny body of our FOY Black and White Warbler entangled in the netting at knee level. The three attached pics taken at 1-minute intervals and a very brief video (with too much bandwidth to share) show the apparent recovery of the little bird which, like far too many concussed athletes, was soon able to continue on its way.
I hope that small migrant will be able to reach its nesting location, find a mate, and is successfully reproduce its magnificent kind. And I'm left to reassess the full ecological costs of having imposed my own dream home on the space that previously was shared by so many of my living counterparts that we so much enjoy! I share these thoughts to share the knowledge of what is happening daily as a result of 8,000,000,000 of us having blissfully displaced a significant segment of Earth's Biosphere.
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