It was one of those tough days to be a Lincoln’s Sparrow on campus today. There were dead birds at the main north entrance and on the south portico. I examined the south portico bird which looked to be HY-U, with fat = 3. There were two more trapped Lincoln’s Sparrows I flushed from the main north entrance. They flew away strongly, showing no evidence of collision.
My first Lincoln’s Sparrow of the year showed up at the northwestern alcove today. I do much prefer to see them alive beneath my feeders. . .
Another feathered friend was very much alive, though stunned from a collision in southeastern entrance. He looked a bit shaky when I first found him, but he was actually fairly perky and difficult to catch. As it was chilly in the shade, I took the bird to a sunny spot near my office where he could more safely and quickly recover. Checking on the bird a bit later in the day, it was still there but flying strongly and looking to be recovering.
This bird was a wren of ambiguous affinity. It’s short tail was evocative of Winter Wren, but its plumage was a better match for House Wren. The bob tail might indicate a HY bird, but I didn’t spend much time examining its plumage for aging as my main concern was to make sure it had a safe place to chill out.
I found a Clay-colored Sparrow in the northwestern corner entrance to the NRC this morning, following the first big front of fall with frost near Woodward. I left the bird in place and it was scavenged by the next morning.
Bird-Window Collisions at OK State 