DÚLRA finds it impossible to define his feelings when he discovered a dead bird under the kitchen window this week.
His heart sank when he came across this still glowing male greenfinch, its new winter coat pristine, lying on the path. It was perfect in every way. He picked it up – it was still warm – hoping it might just have been stunned. But it was immediately apparent it was dead, killed instantly with what seemed like a broken neck, which hung limp.
Just a half hour earlier Dúlra had walked along the path to fill the feeders with sunflower hearts, which these greenfinches love, and the path was clear. He didn’t hear the thump of the bird hitting the window, but when he next went out to scatter some bread, he was devastated to find the dead bird.
Because as well as sadness there was guilt.
Dúlra had lured this bird to his garden offering its favourite food. He killed it with kindness.
It’s not the first bird to die flying into Dúlra’s windows this year, but this beautiful, stunning greenfinch will be the last.
The earlier casualty was a chaffinch – a young bird just out of the nest. Dúlra put it down to the bird’s inexperience and thought that the other garden birds would surely know by now that those gaps between the walls are actually an invisible wall.
And why would any bird want to fly into your kitchen anyway, which is what would have happened if there was no glass there?
It mightn't make sense to us, but we can’t see in the way birds do. Reflections play tricks on them, particularly when the sun is at certain angles.
And then you have the case of emergency flight. At least once a day small birds like these have to fly for their lives with a millisecond to think. Move quick or die. The local sparrowhawk makes a daily, darting visit to Dúlra’s garden and when it suddenly swoops over a hedge – its deadly talons intent on finding an unfortunate prey – potential victims bolt. Dúlra has seen it many times: they crash into hedges, bang into branches – and occasionally smash into a window. A few frayed feathers is a price worth paying.
And then there’s the constant danger these wee birds face of being caught in a cat’s paws – something that these finches don’t have to deal with when they are feeding in their normal woodland habitat. By offering food to help them through a freezing winter, we counterintuitively present them with a whole host of new threats.
To lose a greenfinch – of all birds – in this fashion is doubly tragic. The glasán darach – green bird of the oak tree – has come back from the brink. It was poisoned into near extinction by a disease which it got from garden feeders. That was decades ago and this bird has only just started to rebuild its population.
Hopefully, this beautiful greenfinch will be the last bird to die in that way. Organisations like the RSPB produce window stickers to prevent this sort of tragedy. Dúlra ordered this set of five transfers by post for just a few quid. And who woundn't want a picture of a swallow or a swift in their window?
SAVIOUR: These RSPB stickers will hopefully stop birds flying into Dúlra's windows
And so, hopefully, for the rest of the winter Dúlra can continue to feed the finches in the knowledge that they won’t come to any unexpected harm. As long as the hawk and the cat don’t strike, of course.
•If you’ve seen or photographed anything interesting or have any nature questions, you can text Dúlra on 07801 414804.
