by Louisa C.
A few years ago I was working at my desk when I heard a thud at the window. I looked up and saw a red, male Northern Cardinal lying in the snow on the deck. It was an upsetting sight and I realized the bird had flown into our window and was badly injured.
The year before, I had stuck tiny white “Feather Friendly Bird Tape” dots to all our windows except this sliding door. I bought the bird tape at Safe Wings Ottawa and Wild Birds Unlimited.
I called Safe Wings Ottawa (SWO), a volunteer group that helps birds that collide with glass. At that time, there was a SWO rehabber near me. SWO said the bird would try to fly away out of fear but if I could catch it and bring it to them asap, it might survive.
I grabbed a net I’d bought from the dollar store and climbed onto the deck and slowly approached the cardinal, placing the net over the bird, scrunching a towel underneath, scooping it up and putting the bird and towel in a box. I drove it to the SWO lab. Today, SWO volunteers typically ask the public to drive injured birds to the Ottawa Valley Wild Bird Care Centre.
Safe Wings Ottawa is a member of the Ottawa Field-Naturalists’ Club and was started in 2014 by Anouk Hoedeman and other volunteers. Its goal is to help birds that collide with windows. Shockingly, 16 million to 42 million birds collide with windows annually in Canada (Birds Canada). Birds suffer concussions or other brain damage and often broken bones when they fly into windows. Many bird-window collisions happen at houses or low-rise buildings because these buildings are at tree-level. Typically we don’t hear a bird hitting a window because the bird weighs so little, flies to a nearby tree for protection (and rarely survives) or is taken by a predator.
North America has lost one-third of its birds since 1970 due to window collisions, outdoor cats and habitat loss. Volunteers can make a positive difference.
Safe Wings gave the cardinal painkillers, antibiotics and oxygen to help with pain and promote healing. Four days later, the bird was eating well and moving around and SWO told me it was time for release. I asked if I could let it go in the same location and they agreed this was a good idea.
I remember the good feeling of carrying the box into the snowy backyard, opening the lid and watching the cardinal fly up and into the cedar hedge. It rejoined the other cardinals at the feeders and heated bird-bath water.
As a volunteer with Safe Wings Ottawa, I have talked to some of the hundreds of callers who phone in each year to report injured birds. SWO recommends callers place the bird in a box, do not give it food or water, and transport it to the Ottawa Valley Wild Bird Care Centre as soon as possible as timely treatment can help birds survive.
Safe Wings Ottawa and Bird Friendly Ottawa (BFO) hope to convince homeowners and developers to add visible dots to windows, since prevention is more effective than rehabbing. SWO and BFO rely on volunteers and are always seeking new people to help birds.
If you’d like to volunteer with Safe Wings Ottawa or Bird Friendly Ottawa please get in touch. We welcome students and anyone who cares about birds. We believe that small, collective actions can help birds survive and will allow us to enjoy them well into the future.
Keeping cats indoors helps cats and birds stay safe; outdoor cats kill 100 million to 350 million birds per year in Canada. (Birds Canada)
Ruby-throated Hummingbirds migrate from Mexico and Central America to Ottawa each spring.
We added feather-friendly bird tape to the sliding door and no more bird collisions.
