Some years back a Coopers Hawk snagged a Rock Dove and flew headlong
into my in-laws' front storm door near Silver Spring, MD. Both birds
were killed. My guess is that a bird distracted by struggling prey may
be a bit likelier to fly into a window.
In this case, the bird was banded and my father-in-law was able to
communicate with the folks at the Department of Interior's Beltsville
banding group, who told him when and where it was banded. They were
pleased to get information even though the bird met a sad fate.
Cheers,
Steve Young
Arlington VA
-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Ann Good <clintgood@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: 'Kurt Gaskill' <KurtCapt87@xxxxxxxxxxx>; 'Joe Coleman'
<jcoleman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>; 'VA Birds' <va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Fri, 19 May 2006 06:57:43 -0400
Subject: [va-bird] Dead Red-Shoulder mystery
Dear birders,
I can’t figure out what might have happened to this bird, and I
thought I would get some informed opinions. This description contains
graphic content and reader discretion is advised. Day before yesterday
when I came home from work, I noticed a nasty blood and guts smear on
my upstairs bedroom window. Upon closer inspection, I found an awful
mess on the window ledge – numerous (and I mean a dozen or so) tidbits
of blood and guts, and some larger sections of snake. Let me set the
scene a little more. The window ledge isn’t very wide (5 inches), and
the mess on it was on the lefthand side whereas the smear on the glass
was above it 12 inches and in the center of the window. My first
thought was that a hawk (or whatever bird of prey) brought his prey to
our window ledge to devour it, and in the process swung it up where it
smeared the window. I thought, That was one unusually messy eater, and
also, why on earth would he sit on a narrow window ledge to do it?
Then the next morning (yesterday), my son found a dead Red-Shoulder on
the ground under the window, with the tail (about 10 inches) of a snake
beside it. The seeming obvious conclusion was that the bird flew into
the window and broke its neck. We do have more than two (a pair and at
least one more first-year juvenile) Red-Shoulders making their presence
continually known. But would a hawk really fly headlong into a
not-large window (2.5 x 5 ft), and what would account for the amount of
viscera on the narrow ledge? One of the sections of snake was even
caught around the peg that holds in the (missing) screen, seeming to
indicate that more time was spent on the ledge than a brief scuffle for
a foothold as he fell in death. Also, inspection of the hawk revealed
one single small puncture wound on his breast (that could(?) have been
done by a scavenger overnight) and blood dripping from one nostril
(consistent with a broken neck). Do you suppose he could have been
wounded by the snake he was eating, and grappled with it? But snakes
don’t make visible puncture wounds.
Thanks to anyone who cares to hazard a guess as to the fate of this
bird.
Mary Ann Good
Near Purcellville, VA
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