Before sunup: between 7th Ave W and 4th Ave E on Superior St, one imm White-throated Sparrow or Nashville warbler every couple of blocks, resting on the pavement, probably suffering from strikes. I think I recall Laura Erickson or another Duluth birder posting about grounded birds in downtown Duluth last fall, the fall before, maybe. I wonder how many there are nightly in migration here. I watched one of the Nashvilles perk up as the sunlight hit it, and it flew away towards Canal Park; another right near the bus station was in danger of being kicked or stepped upon so I picked it up and warmed it in my shirt and released it in some vegetation a couple blocks along. All that stone and pavement gets *cold* overnight. I don't know that any rescue squad, official or non, would be of much use, since it's probably too late for many of these birds as soon as they end up among the buildings (strikes/faulty navigation/who knows), but I can't help feeling for each of them I see. Duluth's got such a small 'skyscraper' trap by comparison but obviously it takes its toll.
I realise I'm probably in violation of various wildlife laws for handling the birds, however briefly, but my conscience gets the better of me and I have to do *something*. "It matters to this one". Chris PS: apologies to those who've emailed me personally; I don't have reliable internet access at the moment. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://moumn.org/pipermail/mou-net_moumn.org/attachments/20080909/dd4f3e43/attachment.html
