If You Find a Bird

Quick Tips!

1. Take pictures!!! Upload them to iNaturalist.org (add to the project “Bird-window collisions”) or email them to birdcollisions@gmail.com

2. Report it using iNaturalist.org, or this form

More details…

If you are on campus and happen to run into a bird that hit a window, dead or alive, here are some things you can do that would really help us and the birds!

If you have a smartphone:

1. Download the iNaturalist App and create an account. Join the project “Bird-window collisions”

2. Add an observation by taking a picture of the bird (make sure the picture is good enough for someone to identify the bird), specifying date, and locality (using the map and the name of the building). If you don’t know the species of the bird, click “ID help” and we will identify it for you.

3. At the bottom of the screen click on “Choose a projects” and pick “Bird-window collisions” – Don’t forget this step or your data will be lost in an ocean of observations and we might not be able to find it!

If you don’t have a smartphone:

1. Go to the  iNaturalist.org webpage and create an account. Join the project “Bird-window collisions”

2. Add an observation by uploading the picture of the bird (make sure the picture is good enough for someone to identify the bird), specifying date, and locality (using the map and the name of the building). If you don’t know the species of the bird, click “ID help” and we will identify it for you.

3. Once you save your observation it gives you the option to “Add to project”, here choose “Bird-window collisions”

If you couldn’t do it through iNaturalist:

1. Take pictures of the bird from the ventral, dorsal, and lateral (your smartphone camera is fine for this) and send them to us (birdcollisions@gmail.com) for identification of the species.

Pic instructions

Photo: Hager and Cosentino. 2014. PeerJ

2. If the bird is dead and you have a bag handy (preferably zip-lock), pick up the carcass and  email us (birdcollisions@gmail.com) to set up a meeting place.

3. Please report it to us through this form if it is dead, or alive

How to deal with birds in shock

Bird in box
Stunned bird resting in box

If the bird is alive, it will be in shock and needs a quiet, dark, safe place to rest and recuperate. If you find a bird on the ground by a building, gently place the bird inside an un-waxed paper bag or a small cardboard box. Handle the bird as little as possible. Make sure that the bag or box is closed. If you’re using a cardboard box, poke a few air holes so the bird can breathe. Use clean tissues or paper towels, rolled into a donut shape, as a perch for the bird to sit upright. Never feed the bird or give it water.

If the bird recovers after one hour, you will hear it fluttering inside the bag or box. Take the bird to an open green space far away from windows and buildings. Slowly open the bag or box and let the bird fly out. You have just saved the life of a migratory bird!

 

Help us spread the word!!!

If you work or study in a building that has bird strikes, help us inform people about what to do. Here you can download a PDF of a sign to put up wherever you want! Anyone can help us report birds, the more volunteers we have, the better!

“Found a dead bird?” Sign

3 thoughts on “If You Find a Bird

  1. Love your comments about the birds. I want to ask you a question about a blue jay that has tender loving care since a first hatchling. The eyes not even opened. He/She is now around nine months old. Being fed well and flies 4 or 5 hours a day in house. Does not know the first thing about the outdoors. I feel so bad cause I know he/she belongs out there but afraid to turn out into the unknown and into the claws of other birds or people that will harm it. I love this bird so much. I call it Jbird.

Leave a Reply to Natalia Ocampo Penuela Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *