This post is a rerun, first published in November of 2013. Because few current blog followers have seen it and because of its message about an unusual danger to birds I’ve wanted to post it again for a very long time but I’ve resisted because of the graphic nature of the photos. Some folks complain bitterly when I post photos of birds in distress or injured or dead birds and I don’t like dealing with that kind of fallout.
In yesterday’s edition of Feathered Photography I took a chance and posted a photo of a White-crowned Sparrow with an obvious eye injury and mentioned why I was nervous about doing so. In the comments to that post I was encouraged when several readers said they were surprised that some folks would complain about photos documenting the struggles of birds and that I was hesitant to post such photos. So this morning I decided to suck it up and rerun the post.
Here it is in its entirety, including the warning that was included at the beginning of the original post back in 2013.
Warning: These two photos are not easy to look at, especially if you love birds. If you are sensitive and/or squeamish about seeing photos of suffering and dead birds you may want to click out of this post without proceeding further. Please, no complaints about the nature of these images. You have been warned.
Several years ago the neighbor kids in the home behind and adjoining my back yard would occasionally fly kites from their own yard. Given the relatively small size of their back yard and the many mature and very large trees in the neighborhood it was a kite-disaster waiting to happen. I had no inkling at the time that it would also be a disaster for a bird.
Sure enough, the kite string snagged between two large trees – one tree in an adjoining neighbors yard and another tree on the other side of my yard. The kids were able to retrieve the kite but it left a very long section of the string stretched tight between the two trees directly above the fence at the back of my yard and about 35′ above the ground. The string was way out of my reach so I mostly ignored it. I never even considered the possibility that it might be a danger to birds.
I should have.
Very early one May morning as I was about to leave on a bird photography trip I turned the back yard lights on and walked outside to check the progress of my vegetable garden, only to hear a fluttering sound coming from above me in the pre-dawn darkness. Within a few minutes there was enough light that I could (barely) tell it was an American Robin snagged in the kite string. It was still struggling and it was a sight and sound to break one’s heart.
At first I couldn’t figure out how to rescue the bird. I used my lens to try to see how seriously it was entangled and even though it was still very dark (much darker than it appears in this photo, I’ve increased exposure during processing) I could see well enough through my lens to determine that the robin was almost certainly doomed unless I did something.
I found my own piece of string and a heavy metal washer in my garage so I tied the washer to the end of my string and after several attempts was able to throw the washer over the kite string. The kite string was very long (it stretched roughly 90′ across the entire length of the boundary of our back yards) so as I pulled on my own string the kite string stretched considerably more before it broke.
When it did finally break the robin was flung high into the larger tree in my other neighbors back yard. Even though by now it was fairly light I couldn’t see or hear the robin through all the leaves so I figured the bird had already flown off and would be fine so I left on my photography trip.
I was wrong.
Six months later when the leaves of the tree had fallen in November I spotted this heart-breaking sight high up in the interior of the tree.
All that winter I could see what was left of this bird through the window as I stood at my kitchen sink. It was a stark, depressing and constant reminder that if I’d thought of the kite string as a danger to birds and broken it in a timely fashion this robin would not have suffered and died.
And that’s why I’m making this post. Perhaps we all should be more pro-active in anticipating hazards to birds.
Ron
Note:
Here’s some more evidence as to why I was reluctant to rerun this post. Below is a comment I made on the original post back in 2013:
“I once posted these same two images on a nature photography critique forum on their “Environmental Photojournalism” page. While it was generally very well received as a call to action, one lady ripped me a new anal sphincter for posting such disturbing photos and for taking the time to photograph the robin before trying to rescue it. With this post I just decided that the value of possibly raising awareness was worth the risk of offending someone.”
When we know better… we do better.
Thank you for sharing Ron
“When we know better… we do better.”
Many of us do, Diana. I just wish it were true of more of us.
Thank you Ron for bringing this to my attention. I wouldn’t have guessed kite string to be the death of a bird and now i know differently.
Thanks very much for that feedback, Thomas. Reactions to this post like yours are exactly why I chose to take a chance and rerun this post.
That the photos are shocking is undeniable. That too many of us do this and far worse over and over and over again without learning or even caring is however the real crime. Those of us who care as you and readers of this blog so clearly do, learn and do all they can to prevent a re-occurence and alerting others to the danger is a fine way to make that a reality. Kudos for the courage to face the unpleasant so we can all benefit from your experience. Thanks for posting this.
And thanks for expressing your reaction to it so well. Granny Pat.
Thanks for reposting such an important piece, Ron. One of the dangers we see in songbird rehab are nestlings brought in with dead limbs entangled in thread. Some people put out strings for birds to use for lining the nest, never knowing that it can become wrapped around a growing nestling. (The origin seems to be “Grandma always put out sewing scraps for the birds”.) It’s heartbreaking!
“It’s heartbreaking!”
It sure is, Diane – when any birds are involved that way but especially baby birds.
The “cobwebs” spread over bushes and around houses at Halloween are another big danger. Each year we post a warning in our store and online and we have sometimes used photos that show what these “decorations” can do to birds. Most people thank us for the warning but a few people do object. Sometimes we can talk to them and get them to understand. Such educational posts like this are important and can help bring awareness that will help the birds and us in the long run. Sad to see but thanks for doing this.
Thanks, Dan. Yes, I’ve heard several unfortunate stories about birds and those “cobwebs”.
Heartbreaking, but if we refuse to see, we cannot make changes.
That’s right, EC.
We can’t always get to the hazards we see. I am well versed in them, but get frustrated when out and about and see one impossible to get to unless I had a cherry picker. I have seen many injured trapped and entangled birds, they always hurt my soul. Many people have the idea it is “just nature” but by far the majority of the entanglements and traps are man made, not natural. As for glue traps they should be illegal. WRCNU has a presentation board of all the man made things birds and animals have found themselves caught in. Maybe Buz can post an image on your Facebook page. It is meant as an educational tool, many people just don’t know about the hazards of what their garbage left behind can cause wildlife.
“We can’t always get to the hazards we see”
That’s very true, April – or we don’t have the legal right to do anything about them. Frustrating!
I once went on a hawk rescue for the California Raptor Center in which a Red-tail had gotten entwined by a kite string – that nylon cord is really tough – and I had to call the city tree people. They sent out a cherry picker, but the crew was afraid of the hawk, which was perched on a roof, swathed in the cord. One of CRC’s bold volunteers went up in the bucket (getting the city worker to agree to this was a negotiation worthy of an award). The homeowners had to be contacted and they were grumpy, warning us not to hurt their roof, but they agreed. Rescues can get complicated by humans in more ways than one. Jose went up, with thick gloves and a leather jacket. The hawk actually sat still while he cut it loose, wrapped it in his jacket and brought it down. It took us awhile to cut the cord completely off and then we took the bird to the Center to be checked out by the vets. He (it was a male) was fine and released back in his neighborhood. We promised the cherry picker crew we wouldn’t tell they’d let a civilian up in the bucket! And this, 15 years later, I think, is the first time any of us has blabbed. We called the same crew a few years later when a half-blind education bird got out and went into a tall tree at the edge of a field. That one worked out too. Our director insisted on going up, since the bird knew him and might not fly if he approached, even in such an unusual vehicle. But so many of these scenes don’t end well. A Bald Eagle tangled in fish line near the American River, down in a canyon, died before we could get a team out to him/her.
You’re tough, Ron! I hope you blocked the rude reader who couldn’t take the truth and didn’t want any other little snowflakes to hear it, either.
Thanks for taking the time to tell that story and tell it well, Sallie. That “negotiation” must have been an interesting one…
I couldn’t block that rude person because it was a forum open to members, she was a member, and I didn’t have the power to block her. But thankfully I never heard from her again, probably because I defended my actions… with vigor.
We cannot hope to correct problems that we cannot or will not see.
These kind of photos need to be posted everywhere that careless people might see them. And we are all of us careless, once in a while.
“We cannot hope to correct problems that we cannot or will not see.”
Exactly, Porcupine. Well said.
That is a heartbreaking photo knowing what that Robin went through before finally giving up. I have seen fishing line wrapped around parts of many birds at our lakes especially cormorants. And thankfully only a couple times have I seen persons flying drones over lakes where we have hundreds of birds including nesting eagles. Thanks for posting.
“That is a heartbreaking photo knowing what that Robin went through before finally giving up”
Everett, and I had no choice but to see that dead robin every time I stood in front of my kitchen sink for the entire winter. It was depressing, especially knowing I could have prevented it from happening.
I’ve been on a rant about our human debris and it’s hazardous nature to birds. I found a dead crow dangling in fishing line across from house when the leaves dropped, a grackle that had struggled so hard to escape thread around its leg that it pulled the leg right out of its socket, a Canada goose waddling and stumbling with both legs wrapped together, a loon swimming along entangled with a dead loom, and lastly, a young raven who had fallen from its nest with thin string wrapped around its leg. It’s parents had brought cushy debris to line the nest. The raven was the only one I was able to help. It’s a sad state of affairs.
“It’s a sad state of affairs.”
It is indeed, Caroline. And fishing line is one of the worst, possibly the worst of all.
Thanks for the re-post Ron. I’m glad to know the hazards of such a seemingly innocuous activity. Education is the best way to learn to live in harmony with our world.
Thank you, Brett.
Fishing line is another biggie and baling twine can also be a problem tho more an issue when they try to use a piece of it for nesting material. Much of the string has synthetic material in it now – not just cotton – which makes it stronger and longer (eternally) lasting. Heartbreaking to know the bird wasn’t saved even after you efforts. 🙁
A heads up on these things, even if disturbing, is always a good idea – Thx, Ron
Interesting to know about the evolution of baling twine, Judy. Back when I worked with that stuff I’m pretty sure it didn’t have a synthetic component.
Thank you for the awareness! Your heartbreak will stick with me for the rest of my life. I once put a sticky-mouse/bug pad under my door step to catch big bugs entering a hole to the interior, and the next day, discovered many feathers stuck on it, 20 ft away. It never occurred to me that a bird would investigate that little pad. Allow me to add to your’s, dear readers, please don’t put sticky-mouse/bug pads anywhere outside.
Terri, years ago I used one of those glue pads to catch a mouse in my house. When I saw what it did to the mouse I vowed to never use them again.
I haven’t and I won’t.
Those are also a hazard to kittens…..can even create problems for a full grown cat if a mouse is caught and not disposed of in the timely manner. This was inside for the adult and fairly comical. Kittens were not – a barn situation for someone and one died before the owner found it and another still living.
Sounds awful, Judy.