Written By: Sarah Stinson-Hurwitz, Wildlife Intake Associate
Fall migration is in full swing! Sweet little warblers are migrating all the way down to Central and South America for the winter after summering in the Eastern United States and Southern Canada. Here in South Florida, we are lucky enough to be a stopover migratory site and see a lot of these little fellas in the fall.
We often get calls at the station when a finder sees a warbler, like the Cape May warbler shown on the left, on the ground not moving. A common first thought is that it needs help — it must be suffering from a broken wing or are unable to fly. If the warbler has a visible injury, your rehabilitation center should be contacted immediately. But oftentimes, the bird is just stunned from a collision with a window or another obstacle and needs a moment to recuperate. The best thing to do when you find a stunned warbler is to stand back and observe for about 20 minutes to see if they recover and fly away on their own. If not, it's time to take a photo and call us (or your nearest rehabilitation center) to determine next steps.
Window collisions are the second deadliest human-related cause of bird injuries (cat attacks are the first). You can do your part to aid in their prevention by putting decals on your windows where collisions occur. The decals are made using the ultraviolet spectrum which is transparent to us humans but highly visible to birds. Collisions occur because birds are confused by the reflections of vegetation and sky they see in windows, and the decals upend this illusion. We also recommend placing feeders and bird baths either within three feet, or more than 30 feet, away from windows so that when birds take off they will not hit windows at dangerous speeds. If you are interested in acquiring decals, we have some available in our online store. You can help make the world a safer place for warblers and all birds!
