Peregrine Falcon Survives Building Collision: Patient 24-2234

Building and window collisions are unfortunately not uncommon when it comes to most bird species. Some of them can even be quite high speed like in this case. This Peregrine Falcon had a less than ideal mishap with a building leaving him incapacitated!

Why do birds run into buildings?

At West Shore Wildlife Center, we see tons of birds who were brought in for care after flying into the windows or the sides of buildings. Some people may be wondering why this happens. Birds have a hard time seeing glass which essentially makes it an invisible barrier or a reflective mirror to them. This can confuse them which occasionally results in birds flying into windows or the building itself.

Another big cause for birds flying into windows is light pollution. Artificial lighting can greatly affect birds natural navigation which can lead to them flying towards lit up buildings resulting in building collisions. Sometimes birds of prey, similar to patient 24-2234, can fly into buildings while hunting as well.

What’s this bird's story?

Patient 24-2234 is a Peregrine Falcon who was brought into the center after an intense collision with his rescuers home. When the rescuer walked out she saw the falcon sitting in her front yard. His rescuer was able to safely get him into a cat carrier and bring him into the center for us to check him out.

Upon the initial exam we noticed that he was bleeding quite a bit on the wrist area of his wing and that his wing was drooping. Even after cleaning up the wound on his wing he continued to bleed. It was determined that one of his flight feathers had broken causing him to bleed quite a bit and upon a more in depth exam, there was definitely a broken bone in his wrist. We quickly got him in for x-rays to see what was going on. When we looked at the x-ray it was clear that the wrist was broken and would need plenty of time to heal. We also noticed that Patinet 24-2234 had been previously shot and had two bbs in him as well which highlights the resilience of wildlife.

Rehabilitation and release!

After getting a good idea of what was going on with this bird's wing, we came up with a plan for him. Peregrine Falcons need just about perfect flight in order to be released, as they are aerial hunters and rely greatly on their flight speed, maneuverability, and diving capabilities. Patient 24-2234 was placed on cage rest for a little bit over a month in order to let his wrist heal before trying to fly. After his wrist was healed up we moved him into a much bigger enclosure to allow him to get exercise and to make sure he was holding his wing correctly.

After about a month of making sure he was getting exercise and monitoring his wing closely we decided that he was ready for release and patient 24-2234 was successfully released near where he was found.

This Peregrine Falcon was only 1 of only 2 peregrines that we have ever received here at the center.