I have a wildlife zoo

"I remember that the national bird of Israel is the Eurasian hoopoe!"

"When I was a kid, I raided a Eurasian hoopoe’s nest, it was really stinky, so smelly it hurt my eyes."

Seeing that the netizens were very interested in the Eurasian hoopoe, Fang Ye continued, "The beak of the Eurasian hoopoe is sharp and pointed, it looks somewhat similar to that of a woodpecker, but the woodpecker’s beak is much thicker.

The slender, pointed beak of the Eurasian hoopoe isn’t suitable for pecking wood, it mainly forages for insects in the ground. The beak has a slight curve which allows it to easily poke in and out."

"This Eurasian hoopoe injured its eyes after crashing into glass and was brought back by us for recuperation.

It was lethargic when we first rescued it, but it has been recovering well recently, the swelling in its eyes has noticeably reduced. Look at its crest now, doesn’t it seem rather spirited? We’ll observe it for a few more days, and if there are no issues, it can be released."

"Just a few days ago, a bird crashed into the glass at our workplace and didn’t fly away; I didn’t know what kind of bird it was. I put it on a table to rest for a bit, and later on, it flew away by itself."

"Yesterday morning at around 7:30 when I was going to class, as I left the dormitory, I caught a glimpse of a small patch of green on the ground nearby. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a warbling white-eye, already swarming with ants. It’s currently the breeding season for birds, and there are many nests around the school, I wonder if this warbling white-eye died on its way back home while searching for food..."

"I’m saying, occasionally I see complete bird carcasses under our unit, and I thought maybe they had eaten an insect sprayed with pesticides. Listening to you guys, I feel it could be bird collision? This is the first time I’m hearing this term!"

"Last time, I witnessed a small bird crash into the second-floor glass of the teaching building and plummet down! I wanted to help, but it was already dead, such a pity."

"Why do birds crash into glass? Can’t they see it?"

As soon as the topic of bird collisions was brought up, the netizens immediately engaged in a lively discussion.

Fang Ye explained in detail, "Bird collisions are a relatively common type of injury that we come across in our rescue efforts!

In the cities where we live, there are many tall buildings with large areas of glass curtain walls.

The high reflectivity of the glass reflects the surrounding greenery or the blue sky. Birds might take it as real, thinking there’s open space ahead and crash into it."

"There are also the transparent glass fences used in scenic parks as barriers along pathways, which appear invisible and clear to birds, making them think they can pass through."

"If flying at a slow speed, a collision might result in a mild concussion, and after falling and resting a while, they can recover.

If chased by predators, startled by humans, desperately trying to escape, or perhaps they see a reflection of another bird, mistaking it for a rival or a mate, and, in excitement, fly too fast, hitting hard enough that they might die instantly.

Even if they don’t die on impact, if they fly high enough and pass out from the collision, they can fall and die from the fall."

"Actually, research has found that when the glass area of a building exceeds 30% to 40%, the energy consumption for heating or cooling greatly increases. So, just from the perspective of regulating indoor temperature, all-glass isn’t a good construction choice, probably below 40% is a better state."

"Besides glass, lighting is another issue. The night lights of cities are confusing for migrating birds. When migrating, birds use the stars and natural light to navigate, but bright lights might lead them to misjudge directions, and in the process of circling, they could crash into the glass or collide with another bird."

"The annual death toll of birds due to collisions is counted in the billions."

"Shocking, is it really that serious?"

"A sigh."

"Urban light pollution is getting worse, and not to mention its impact on birds, it’s also bad for people’s health."

"Why have I never seen it before?"

"It might be because stray cats or other animals ate the birds’ remains, or the cleaners from the property management picked them up and threw them away! Collisions with birds are quite frequent."

"Director, is there any way to prevent birds from colliding? My windows have been hit three times already this year!/facepalm. Of all the households on our row, only mine gets hit by birds. I don’t know why."

Fang Ye read the comments and said, "If only your house is being hit, could it be because your windows are too close to the green plants? If they’re close to the greenery, the reflection of the plants on the glass may increase the birds’ visual errors, leading to misjudgments.

There’s a simple method to prevent bird collisions, which is to apply stickers to the glass to create a visual barrier."

"As for how to apply them, you can place some dot stickers with a diameter of 1.5cm. If they’re too big, they may not look very nice when applied, and if they’re too small, birds won’t see them, making them ineffective in preventing collisions. The horizontal spacing between the dots should be 10cm, which is just about the wingspan of small birds, and the vertical spacing should be 5cm, as anything wider might give the birds the illusion that they can squeeze through."

"Thumbs up!"

"Learned something new, I’ll buy some stickers to put on my windows when I get back."

"Speaking of which, would it work to stick a picture of an eagle? Birds would get scared off from a distance. Plus, it would look nicer."

Fang Ye laughed and said, "Hawk stickers, huh? Birds aren’t fools, you know. They might avoid it once or twice, but if every time they see it it’s standing still, they’ll eventually realize it’s fake and ignore it. But if you want your windows to look nice, using stickers of animals isn’t a bad idea, as long as they serve the purpose of blocking the view.

Let me tell you about something that happened to our volunteer Xiaozhi some time ago!

One morning, he was about to go out to have fun. As soon as he opened the front door, he heard a ’thud’ above his head, and something fell at his feet.

Xiaozhi looked closely and saw it was a warbling white-eye that had hit the window and was stunned, still holding a blade of grass in its mouth.

The warbling white-eye was lying on its back, feet in the air, then rolled over, lay on its side on the ground, and struggled with its wings, trying several times to get up without success.

Its eyes would open and then close, looking helpless and in pain, which was heartbreaking, but the grass it held in its mouth was never let go.

Xiaozhi immediately asked for help in the group chat, asking what to do. We suggested observing the bird for a while, as it could be a mild concussion, which might clear up after some time, allowing the bird to fly away. If it didn’t get up, then to bring it to a rescue center."

So Xiaozhi stayed by the warbling white-eye’s side, guarding it. After about ten minutes, the bird had rested for a bit, regained its spirits, and bravely stood up and flew away.

The warbling white-eye kept holding the grass in its beak until it flew off.

"It’s the breeding season, and that’s the material it was gathering to build a nest and raise its chicks."

"Holy shit! I actually feel like crying!"

Experience new tales on NovelBin.Côm

"Such a small body holds so much great love."

"Life is hard for humans, and just as difficult for birds."

"It’s quite shocking. I hope there will be more animal-friendly designs! So we can coexist harmoniously with our adorable animal neighbors."

"Just thinking about people who shoot birds with slingshots makes me angry."