The Tale of a Hermit Thrush

After returning home from a busy day at work on Friday, October 23rd, I was excited to sit down and relax for a few minutes in the den of my home. Not too long after, my time in front of the television was interrupted by a very loud thud against our window. I ran outside to see what hit and found a small Hermit Thrush (Catharus guttatus) laying on the ground. The bird was in a clear state of shock and it was just barely breathing with its mouth wide open. Recalling upon my training and the advice I give to the many people who call our wildlife advisory hotline every day, I gently picked the helpless bird up and placed him into a box. I brought the box into the house and placed it in a quiet, dark place. With many victims of window collisions, the birds often recover within a couple minutes to an hour and then fly away again. However, I questioned whether this bird would even survive through the next five minutes. A half hour later, I checked on the bird and was shocked to see he was now standing instead of laying on his side. As nightfall came, the bird was still unable to fly and I decided that I would bring him to work to admit him to the hospital Saturday morning.

Upon initial exam, we were pleased to find no fractures in his wing or leg bones... a pretty remarkable feat given the impact he had with the window. We did notice a laceration by his ear and some swelling in that area. We gave the bird some pain medications and an antibiotic to prevent infection of the wound. Over the next several days, we were thrilled to see he started to eat and fly more each day. A week after his unfortunate trauma with my own window, we headed out to the Walled Garden at Caumsett State Historic Park and watched as the Hermit Thrush took flight back into the wild.

Building collisions are a common occurrence especially during the fall and spring migrations of many songbirds. If you find a bird that has collided with a window or vehicle, place the bird in a quiet, dark box and give it several hours to recover. If it has not recovered within that time, please call our wildlife advisory telephone at (631) 423-0982 for advice.