Nuthatch on a Stick

A couple mornings ago I awoke to the dog excitedly looking out the patio door and half barking. I assumed there was another squirrel peering in…but I went and looked anyway. Unfortunately it was an injured looking white-breasted nuthatch instead. He (or she) was sitting on the step looking traumatized and had possibly had a broken wing, but I was hoping not.

I’m sure the poor nuthatch ran into our big glass patio windows. This hasn’t happened in quite some time. It used to be that we had about one casualty a week, which was upsetting for me as I don’t want to be the cause of any death no matter how small (save for mosquitoes and ticks, I will gladly cause their deaths)…

Many months ago (I can’t remember exactly) I picked up some window decals specifically designed to prevent bird collisions. The are translucent and unobtrusive to me but they apparently look bright purple to the birds. I put some on the windows and have had almost no collisions and zero deaths since then. About once a month a bird will still fly into the window, but it seems with less impact. I suspect that they just notice them too late and put on the “bird-brakes” as Robert calls them so they don’t hit as hard. Most of them just fly away. This nuthatch was the first in a long time to hit hard enough to be stunned. This occurrence was particularly unusual as I’ve never seen a nuthatch hit, nor do I even see them near the patio…they stick to the sides of trees.

I’m definitely nosey, and I also couldn’t get Phoenix to stop barking at the little critter, so I went out to find out if he was really injured or not. By the time I got out he had moved his hurt looking wing and proven it to be okay. Since the dog was not calming down, I decided to try and get the nuthatch on a stick to either move him or rouse him into flying away. He was still a bit stunned, but obviously fine. He sat on the little stick for a minute recovering. Robert snapped a couple pictures…then he flew off into the tree. And I’m pretty sure I saw him eating from the feeder a short while later.

I am glad we are still casualty free. If this happens again I might deem it time to invest in some new decals. They work great, but the packaging did say they only work for about six months than the coloring wears off. It’s well worth the investment for me as I no longer have to feel sad due to bird deaths.

I would imagine you could get them at most bird stores. I live in Durham, NC so I get mine from the Outdoor Bird Company (the best bird store I’ve ever been in).

For an online source, you can get them here too: WindowAlert.com
I’ve lost the packaging, but those look exactly like mine, so they are probably the same brand.