Death Glass-November 29th, 2008

When I woke up this morning I found a dead Sharp-shinned Hawk on our patio. It looked like it had hit the window of the sunroom yesterday evening because it had a layer of snow on it. I then buried it in our yard (woods) and then came back inside.
Later that morning I was sitting in the living room and relaxing. Just then I hear a "BANG" on the window and I sit bolt upright. I run outside and find a Pine Siskin lying on the ground. Its not dead but not in great shape. And it doesn't get better when Zia picks it up in his mouth and starts munching on it. I run up to Zia, carefully open his mouth and get the bird out of his mouth. Unfortunately for the siskin, Zia ripped its tail off as I got the bird out of his mouth and it was sopping wet. I put Zia inside and then tried to think what to do with the siskin. Of course now it can't fly with its tail off so we put it in a box and put it on top of our hot-tub.
I really think that the most dangerous thing for birds is windows. I call them death glass because so many birds die from hitting windows. We have hummingbird stickers on our windows that are suppose to catch birds attention and make them keep from killing themselves on your death glass. I think that everyone should have some kind of window sticker or something like that to keep the death rate down on birds in your backyard.
This year already, about 15 birds have hit our windows and about 7-8 have died. In September a Black-headed Grosbeak hit my window but its mostly been siskins that have hit windows. Either they're a little dull in the head or they just can't tell whats outside and whats inside our house.
On the brighter side of things I just got a new scope! Its a Swarovski 65mm Standard and it is really good! We're also getting a camera. Well, good birding to all you folks and happy holidays!

Las Vegas NWR-November 2, 2008

This Sunday I went out with the Santa Fe Audubon group to the Las Vegas National Wildlife Refuge from 7:00 to 1:30 p.m. We saw a total of 33 species and I saw 1 lifer. On the way back to the headquarters of the refuge, I saw a Ferruginuos Hawk which is a lifer! It was gorgous. With a white chest and tail and a reddish back it, in my opinion is one of America's prettiest birds. We chased it for a while and finally got it rioght over the highway!

Sorry, I don't have much time to write anything and we lost our camera so I'm unable to put up any pics.

Good Birding!

Cassidy

Here is the bird list from Sunday:

Ducks, Geese, & Swans:
Snow Goose
Canada Goose
Gadwall
American Wigeon
Mallard
Northern Shoveler
Northern Pintail
Canvasback
Bufflehead
Hooded Merganser

Grebes:
Pied-billed Grebe
Clark's Grebe (1 adult, 2 immature)

Pelicans:
American White Pelican

Cormorants:
Double-crested Cormorant

Herons, Bitterns, & Allies:
Great Blue Heron

Hawks, Kites, Eagles, & Allies:
Osprey
Northern Harrier
Red-tailed Hawk
Ferruginous Hawk

Falcons:
American Kestrel

Rails, Gallinules, & Coots:
American Coot

Cranes:
Sandhill Crane

Gulls, Terns, & Skimmers:
Bonaparte's Gull
Ring-billed Gull

Pigeons & Doves:
Rock Dove

Crows & Jays:
Common Raven

Larks:
Horned Lark

Thrushes:
Mountain Bluebird

Starlings:
European Starling

Towhees, Sparrows, & Allies:
American Tree Sparrow
Grey-headed Junco

Blackbirds:
Red-winged Blackbird
Western Meadowlark