Yesterday, in a further attempt to lure the local wild birds closer to our house, I hung a sunflower seed feeder off the end of the veranda not appreciating the consequences of it being right next to....
There hasn't been a comparable disaster since one of our cats caught a goldcrest, the only one I ever saw while we lived at Matenderere, and proudly presented it to us by leaving its rather chewed corpse on the back doorstep.
The only positive aspect of this sad event is that the local siskins aren't rare here, not like the Ardnamurchan goldcrests. Nevertheless, the feeder has been hurriedly moved and the two tiny bodies buried with full ceremony in the back garden.
I was so sorry to read today's post. But you wern't to know. Birds sometimes strike our windows yet the feeders are some distance away. Often, the stunned bird will flutter to a perch and take a while to recompose itself; only occasionly do we find a body. Amusing evidence is somtimes found on windows where the greasy print of feathers shows the moment of impact and the bird can be identified. Pigeons leave good prints but the best was an owl who left a face print with wings outstretched. My wife's mother told of a birdstrike where a pair of nesting chaffinches were carrying the same twig and flew into a window. The dead birds were found on the ground still clasping their twig.
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