A cruel New Year

for this American Kestrel found impaled in my fence this morning:

My neighbor actually spotted the backside of him from her dining room window and gave me a call.

He was flying in really low as you can see in the photo below and must not have seen the chicken wire:

I've never had any bird die this way before but I can see now how it would happen.  Since I don't know exactly when it happened, I'm hoping it was instant death for him as opposed to hanging there, dying slowly.  I'm sure he was flying in at a very high rate of speed tho, so it probably was. 

I would never wish a New Years start like his on anyone.   It was pretty sad to see and I know I'm going to have a hard time extracting him from the fence.  Not a job I look forward to...

Edited to add:  It makes me want to take the chicken wire down from around my fence.  Unfortunately, I need it to keep my dog in.  :-(

 

Comments

[Victoria]

That's so sad. What a beautiful it was.

[Karin/Southern Meadows]

That is tragic! He was a beautiful bird with lovely plumage. I have never seen this bird in the wild before so I think it is special that you get them to come in your garden. I don't envy you having to go out and take him off the fence and dispose of him. I hope your new year gets off to a better start this week.

[Sweetbay]

Ugh, poor Kestrel.

Have you heard about all of the Blackbirds (Red-Winged mostly) that dropped out of the sky in Arkansas? First thoughts were that it was caused by a high level hailstorm..

[Janet]

That is just sad. I hope it died quickly. What a beautiful bird.

[Dana]

Oh Kathleen - so sorry that happened! Awful thing to have to deal with. Reminded me of the time in South Dakota when a fawn was caught in my fence. Thankfully I was able to get him out and he lived. The fence came down!

[Donna]

I will have a hard time forgetting this image. Such a shame. I too hope his death came quickly. He was such a magnificent creature.

[Kala]

Oh, that's terrible Kathleen. I hope he died quickly without pain.

[AngryRedhead]

Oh, wow, I definitely don't envy the extraction and burial, but it's very odd the bird didn't see the fence since they have amazing sight. Hawks can figure out how to get at chickens without getting injured. It seems they can even see fishing line. Perhaps you could put a second intersecting layer of chicken wire up?

[MarkNDenver]

And the American Kestrel is such a beauty...

It may be better to put up a second strand of "rabbit wire" which is smaller than "chicken wire" - and is even sturdier.

Sorry for our loss of the Kestrel.

[Lona]

Oh, what a shame and such a beautiful bird. It must have been really moving fast to have gotten its head through the wire. I have a window on my gardening bench and the birds kept trying to fly through it and would break their necks. It made me so sad so I hung things on and over the glass panes to help. I know it will be sad for you when extracting it from the fence.