Angry Bird?
Mar 16, 2019 23:08:18 #
Does anyone know what this little girl might be called? I found her in a dogwood in my back yard, acting strangely. At first I thought she might have an injury because she just glared at me as I crept around to get closer. Then she started hopping from branch to branch, clearly barely tolerating me. Finally, she let out a sound like no bird I had ever beard; it resembled the honk of a Canada Goose (I was sober), that's the 3rd shot. But when viewing the photos on the computer I realized she just looked grumpy; she seemed to have lost her left eye. What do you think?
Please check out the downloads.
Please check out the downloads.
Mar 16, 2019 23:22:23 #
Mar 16, 2019 23:24:40 #
Looks like a goldfinch with an eye injury. I am pretty certain about the species.
Mar 17, 2019 06:48:22 #
Nice catches!
Looks like my wife early morning, but I'm not brave enough to photograph.
Looks like my wife early morning, but I'm not brave enough to photograph.
Mar 17, 2019 09:14:35 #
D-Train wrote:
I'd be grumpy too if someone took my eye out!
With some old fart invading your privacy, too.
Thanks
Mar 17, 2019 09:16:01 #
Einreb92 wrote:
Looks like a goldfinch with an eye injury. I am pretty certain about the species.
That's what I figured too. But with the squashed face and elongated body I didn't know.
Thanks
Mar 17, 2019 09:18:24 #
DaveO wrote:
Nice catches!
Looks like my wife early morning, but I'm not brave enough to photograph.
Looks like my wife early morning, but I'm not brave enough to photograph.
DaveO, that's funny, and I started to include that little aside in my narrative but figured I'd end up looking worse than the bird.
Thanks
Mar 17, 2019 09:21:21 #
Raz Theo wrote:
DaveO, that's funny, and I started to include that little aside in my narrative but figured I'd end up looking worse than the bird.
Thanks
Thanks
LOL! Again she says "Always at my expense!"
Mar 17, 2019 13:50:46 #
Raz Theo wrote:
With some old fart invading your privacy, too.
Thanks
Thanks
I wonder how often an eye injury like that happens because a bird accidentally flew into a twig?
Mar 17, 2019 17:08:23 #
D-Train wrote:
I wonder how often an eye injury like that happens because a bird accidentally flew into a twig?
This is actually where I found her, just below the tree in the previous shots. My neighbor (brick background) said she had been "sitting in that spot without moving for an hour". She thought she was dead. NOT.
Mar 17, 2019 17:33:24 #
Raz Theo wrote:
Does anyone know what this little girl might be ca... (show quote)
Raz Theo, I'm sorry but it has conjunctivitis, an eye infection that will cause blindness and lead to its death. It can be treated by a vet if not too far along and one member carried a sick one to a vet that was a friend of his and they were able to cure it and after being released the little bird would land on his shoulder to be fed.
Mar 17, 2019 18:04:01 #
Swamp-Cork wrote:
Raz Theo, I'm sorry but it has conjunctivitis, an eye infection that will cause blindness and lead to its death. It can be treated by a vet if not too far along and one member carried a sick one to a vet that was a friend of his and they were able to cure it and after being released the little bird would land on his shoulder to be fed.
Swamp-Cork, that's very interesting. She had been immobile until I inadvertently scared her into the branches. While shooting in that glaring, overhead sun I couldn't see her condition in the viewfinder (a 70-200 2.8 and heavy cropping were used). I was shocked once I saw the shots and we tried to find her with the very same idea you suggest but no luck. Apart from the eye damage the bird looked really healthy so I hope it survives. We've got several feeders and a lot of finches so maybe she'll show up. Thanks for the thoughts.
BTW: I don't know why I keep saying "she" - the plumage clearly identifies it as male. But I wasn't expecting full-blown color on a finch's coat this early, and this one was so long in body, that I didn't know what he was when I posted.
Mar 17, 2019 21:19:33 #
Raz Theo wrote:
Swamp-Cork, that's very interesting. She had been... (show quote)
Sometimes you can see them hovering as they are trying to land but their eyesight is diminished to the point that they are having a very tough time seeing! We hardly ever used to see a goldfinch with this problem because eastern birds had built up a good deal of immunity to it but the house finches were imported from the west and had very little immunity to this disease and can remember them outnumbering the goldfinches around our home around 30 years ago and then all of a sudden their population crashed and we saw very few for a good number of years. Recommendations for helping to prevent outbreaks of it include cleaning feeders, baths and water containers with a mild bleach solution and then rinsing as well as removing the accumulation of seed shells on the ground below the feeders and relocating the feeders to a different location from time to time, and know that I do not follow that advise often enough.
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.