This morning I was driving home from purchasing a much-needed Starbucks®, that oh-so-necessary-coffee-break as the business world pummels you, when I heard an interesting thing on the radio. It seems that birds which are migrating north from their winter habitats become confused around the Chicago metropolitan area. They are not anticipating tall buildings in their radar, and consequently many of them ram into the John Hancock and the Sears Tower. The impact stuns them and they fall to the ground.
But, believe it or not, they are not dead. Rather they are temporarily unconscious. And, with human guidance, they can be nursed back to enough health to allow them to continue their migration.
Who does the nursing? It is the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, an organization that claims to have helped 900 birds last season and which is seeking volunteers for this season. I’m not sure what monitors actually do — there wasn’t enough time in a thirty second commercial to delve into details — but it struck me that in all the stress and strife of daily life the well-being of a bird probably isn’t considered by most people.
Yet here are the Monitors who help birds on their way. In a way, it’s like the Underground Railroad of the Civil War or the smuggling of Jewish children from Europe during World War II. It’s a small intention, but so meaningful in its outcome. It almost makes me wish I still lived in Chicago and could join the organization.
Forsaking that, I think I’ll take extra care of birds that fly into our full-length windows that grace the back of our house. I’ve experienced firsthand the thud that a small winged wonder makes. I’ve seen it lie listless on our deck; and, amazingly, I’ve seen it perk up and fly off a couple hours later. I think this is what the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors have in mind.
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