Sparrow death

[Sunnyrae]

I have found a dead sparrow on the patio which may or may not have flown into a window. It had a large engorged tick in its eyesocket. Could this have caused its death or disorientated it causing it to hit the window? I have never seen this on a bird before. There are no sheep, cattle or deer in our neighbourhood but there are occasional hedgehogs. Ideas please. I could produce a photo for the more gory-minded if necessary.

[Deb London]

Please post the pictures if possible, they sound of interest to me.

[RKB]

No, birds carry lots of ticks, usually around the head/eyes, and they cause few problems in general. The tick was probably unrelated to it flying into the window (which they do when seeing a reflection of bushes/sky etc)

[Littlesparrow]

if your patio windows are reflective please put some kind of sticker on them so that the birds have a chance to see them. I use butterflies, but you can get various shapes, some look like birds. There are other threads on this subject and I think there was quite alot of info on where you can buy stickers.

[RKB]

Originally Posted by Littlesparrow

if your patio windows are reflective please put some kind of sticker on them so that the birds have a chance to see them. I use butterflies, but you can get various shapes, some look like birds. There are other threads on this subject and I think there was quite alot of info on where you can buy stickers.

Though if the stickers are on the inside then it wont do any good - the reflection from outside is on top of it.

[Littlesparrow]

My stickers are on the inside yes, and i haven't had any bird crashes since, i believe you can get them for the outside if you think this is more effective.

[Sunnyrae]

Thanks for comments. My windows are (and have been for many years) smothered in a variety of stickers to prevent bird crashes. Nothing seems to work. I have had suggestions that birds fleeing from our resident sparrowhawk may crash in panic. Seems logical. She picked off three in 24 hours this week and allowed me to photograph her at a distance of 12 inches while consuming them. Amazing pics but sad about the birds. Will put pics on when I get to grips with this site. I'm new here.

[tony photo]

Hi Sunnyrae

I had a similar thing today with a dead wren and a tick attached to its neck, no collisions though!

Tony

[Dave Hallam]

Flat flies on birds are horrible. I've handled many small birds. Swifts in particular can have dozens of flies on them, they make you shudder when then scurry up your hands and are almost indistructable!