Saturday, January 10, 2009

Poor Little Bird


This morning my daughter noticed the cat trying to get up to the window. She opened the blinds and saw this poor little goldfinch huddled in the corner.

I went outside to see if I could tell what was wrong. It was shivering in the cold with it's little head tucked in its feathers. It wasn't moving, not even with the cat so close to it...

and pawing at the window. As I approached it flew away, obviously injured, but still able to get away. It flew to my neighbors back yard.


A little while later I heard Lilly in the kitchen going nuts at the door, I was sad to see that the goldfinch had returned.

Poor sweet little bird. I wish I knew what to do for it. Any ideas?

Edit: The goldfinch has died on the patio. I wonder what was wrong with it. So sad.

24 comments:

Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog said...

Gee, that really is sad. Are goldfinches commonly found in your area this time of year? Maybe it was a little slow moving south for the winter??

Gail said...

Sometimes birds fly into glass doors and windows...Its just so sad when they die. gail

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Robin .. it is so sad to see this happen no matter how many birds there are on earth, to see this little life fade out like that is what it is .. SAD.
We had a beautiful Bluejay do the same thing one year .. during a very hot summer .. hubby and I rescued it from a neighbor's back yard .. put it in the shade of our trees with some water in a saucer .. it held on for a while then died. We both felt awful.
It wrenches your heart ..

Lisa at Greenbow said...

It is difficult to tell what happened to it. So many obstacles, even old age could have occured.

Barbarapc said...

Poor sweet little thing - I love my windows, unfortunately I lose at least one poor little soul a year when they fly into one of the large panes - I can never get over how light they are when you pick them up off the ground.

Jan said...

Robin, You will not believe this, but I am getting ready to post the same thing: a little goldfinch flew into my window in my family room and landed on the deck, on a glider we sit on there. I took photos and was going to post it. It is sad. Do you mind if I post it now? I hate to something similar, again!!! But I can mention you again, like I did in the last one:) Let me know. Jan

LG said...

Beautiful pictures..I'm sorry about the little bird..I always feel awful when I try rescue little birds and they die on me...

LG

A New England Life said...

I'm sorry Robin : (

I know how much you love nature and it just wrenchs your heart to see something so beautiful and innocent not make it.

Sharon

Shirley said...

Hi again Robin :-)

It always pains me to see a bird die in my garden. I don’t believe though, that your bird died by hitting a window. I have seen stunned and dead birds after this a few times :-(

We have a Nestbox with a camera as you know. I can see the birds as they tuck their head into their bodies to go sleep. This bird looked like it was doing this. Perhaps it was sick or even just old as Lisa suggested. You probably couldn’t have done anything to help it. I’m sure that makes you sad even more.

Your visiting birds are lucky that you care so much.

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

It is sad to see these little creatures die,and not know what to do for them.
Blessings,Ruth

Diana said...

I'm sorry, Robin. That's so sad. One of my dogs got a cardinal this week and it broke my heart. You have my sympathies.

Kerri Farley said...

Oh, it is very sad!

Sherri said...

Robin, that was so sad for you to see this helpless little goldfinch struggling to live and then die. It probably hit the window. I'm so sorry you had to deal with this. Poor thing!

Mary said...

Might have been hurt by a window strike? Poor thing... It's always heartbreaking.

Mary

Unknown said...

We had a bird this summer past, some sort of a sparrow, that would fly at the window over and over and over again. Not hard, and this went on for a few days, and we could NOT figure out why it was doing this. Then one day we just didn't see it again. Whether it moved on, or died, we don't know. It's hard to know what (if anything) we shoujld do in situations like this, isn't it?

Anonymous said...

oh no. How sad. I hate to see this happen too, especially to a beautiful little goldfinch. It's so hard to tell what could have happened ~ a cat or other predator injured it? a window mishap? Whatever, it does make you feel totally helpless doesn't it? I'm sorry. That would have bummed me out for the day.

F Cameron said...

We had a beautiful Cedar Waxwing fly into our windows, fall two stories down and pass away.

Cameron

TYRA Hallsénius Lindhe said...

Hi Robin, how sad...your pictures are so beautiful and full of drama/ Tyra

Anonymous said...

Could your little bird have had salmonella?
Mandy

Anonymous said...

The first thing I thought was that it felt safe with you. For whatever reason it is there amd it is where it wanted to be. It has probably grown to love you and your ability to love nature. It felt connected and came to tell you so. I hope it is just tired.

Rose said...

Robin, this is such a sad story, but the goldfinch had probably been injured in some way. It's hard to know how to help a wild bird.

If you don't mind my changing the subject, I just saw your earlier post about Noblesville. The photo of the bee near the purple blossom has to be the most fantastic photo I've ever seen!

Anonymous said...

Hi Robin, The picture of your cat looking at the little bird is priceless. In our neck of the woods, when a bird dies without an apparent cause we're urged to take it the wildlife people (I can't recall their exact title at the moment.) A few years ago, not too far from here, a bluejay tested positive for West Nile. The authorities like to keep tabs on this sort of thing.

It is sad that the poor thing didn't make it. When you think about how vulnerable they are, it's a wonder any of them survive.

Unknown said...

I love the photos with the cat looking through the window at the bird!

Kerri said...

Oh, poor little bird. So sad.
You have such a tender heart, dear Robin. I know just how you feel. They're so sweet and innocent. I hate it when something bad happens to one of them.
There's been a feeding frenzy here all day. They're stocking up again the frigid temps, which are going to plummet even more before the end of the week! Brrr!