Yesterday I noticed a female House Finch fluttering in a very strange manner -- it was almost stationary in the air with wings going back and forth for all the world like it was emulating a hummingbird. Then it would move 6 inches in the air and continue its fluttering, move another 6 in. Finally its wing brushed against a twig and the bird managed to make an extremely awkward landing. That's when I noticed that one eye was almost completely crusted over, and the other one was cloudy looking and very red. I really think it was almost completely blind. It cocked its head in all different directions -- listening to other birds? and finally made another fluttering movement until it's wings hit a different twig -- another awkward landing. This was only a few feet from my thistle feeder and I think it used its ears to know there were other finches feeding there. It finally fluttered towards the feeder, hit it, and miraculously managed a landing on one of the perches. Fed for quite a long time before being frightened off - did its fluttery flight and didn't brush up against any other twigs so ended up landing on the ground (although "landing" is perhaps not exactly the right word.)
So then I started worrying that perhaps it had pox and was infecting my feeder and other birds. Every time I saw it on a branch it was frequently rubbing its eyes against the branch -- probably spreading whatever it had. So should I catch it and do away with it? Grim thoughts during our own human viral crisis! I'm sure I could have crept up on it and grabbed it. About an hour later the Magpies alerted me that I should be looking out the window -- A Cooper's Hawk was eating a female House finch. Haven't seen the blind bird since, so perhaps natural selection took its course. Mary Kay Waddington -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Colorado Birds" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/cobirds/CAA-Db7fd3FcRPWFX3yHj9gJfPJRz9xtZpbsYkTJnWGSOKVEsiA%40mail.gmail.com.
