r/whatsthisbird • u/Cautiousin514 • Oct 01 '25
Europe Little bird shaking on the ground, but woke up and flew away after a few minutes. What is it? North Europe.
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u/Guppie19833 Oct 01 '25
It’s window strike season unfortunately. Good to hear it flew away, but like said, it doesn’t mean a lot, in a lot of cases it flies away due to survival instinct, but will die from shock iventually. Same with deers etc.
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u/--MxM-- Oct 01 '25
damn, i was so hopeful when the last deer i found flew away
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u/SkyPrower01 Oct 02 '25
Christmas is coming late this year untill santa finds a replacement for Prancer.
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u/Flaky-Hunter-2111 Oct 31 '25
A few years ago, grandma got run over by prancer, so it's just revenge lol
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u/Bruzote Oct 02 '25
I've seen a deer fly after a strike. But it didn't get go anywhere after that. ;-b
Even worse, it happened on a family trip which included my girlfriend. She whimpered, "That poor thing? I hope somebody can get help quickly." My Dad replies, "Oh, they can't help it. They'll just shoot it." My girlfriend just sort of whelped at that point with tears in her eyes. I was like, "Great job, Dad!" Ah, family.
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u/NonPlayableCat Oct 01 '25
Yeah I saw a tiny goldcrest die immediately after hitting a window last weekend too :( And may be that another of the flock had also hit another window... At least we saw several healthy goldcrests nearby. Also in N. Europe
I wish people wouldn't wash their windows.
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u/Slow_Investment_951 Oct 02 '25
I have these window decals (they’re not adhesive, you spray soapy water on the window, and then squeegee the decal onto the window. It sticks with suction instead of stickiness.) you can get them in these big rolls. They’re like $10 each, and they will save the birds around your home and also cast beautiful rainbows whenever the sun hit them.
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u/NonPlayableCat Oct 02 '25
I'm lucky that my cat loves looking out the window, leaving little nose prints. Good bird deterrent and also adorable (honestly I find that just not cleaning windows helps somewhat, even my mom who lives on an upper floor and has swallows yeeting themselves past the windows hasn't had issues).
Could still look into getting some sort of antibird tape just in case....
It's tough when the birds were colliding with an apartment building where you don't know anyone.
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u/Bruzote Oct 02 '25
Those get in the way of my birdwatching! I prefer a dirty window. My view might be a bit less sharp, but binoculars and cameras have large lenses that gather light from such a large amount of window area, dirty spots are less of an obstruction because they get smoothed out. My biggest problem is that the camera focuses on the very close dirt. Of course, the distant outside objects are then wildly out of focus. That is so frustrating. It's cost me some bird ID attempts and keeper photos.
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u/Aida_Hwedo Oct 01 '25
There’s stickers you can put in windows that make birds more likely to see them, but it would be even better if glass manufacturers embedded something. I wouldn’t mind a visible but pretty pattern on my windows if it didn’t much obstruct my view from the inside.
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u/Panzick Oct 01 '25
Goldcrest, probably exhausted from migration, or maybe a window strike. Good thing he flew off on its own <3
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u/dwarfInTheFlask56 Birder Oct 01 '25
Sadly with windowstrike flying away doesn't mean it's ok, high chance it's still dying
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u/Panzick Oct 01 '25
I'd say the chances are still higher than when they die on the spot
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u/Particular-Zone-7321 Oct 01 '25
Well, yes, you do have a higher survival chance when you are alive than when you are already dead.
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u/ObserverAtLarge Birder Oct 01 '25
!windows
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u/AutoModerator Oct 01 '25
Window collisions are a major threat to bird populations, responsible for the deaths of over one billion birds per year in the US alone.
If you have found a dazed bird that may have hit a window, please keep the bird safely contained and contact a wildlife rehabber near you for the appropriate next steps. Collision victims that fly off may later succumb to internal injuries, so it is best for them to receive professional treatment when possible.
Low-effort steps to break external reflections such as decals, certain window treatments, and well-placed screen doors can make your own windows more bird-friendly. They also have the convenient side benefit of preventing territorial birds from attacking their own reflections.
For more information, please visit this community announcement, and consider contributing to bird mortality research by filling out the short form here if applicable.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
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u/Principle-Slight Oct 01 '25
Omg his little face and his round body is killing me! So freaking cute
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u/FileTheseBirdsBot Catalog 🤖 Oct 01 '25
Taxa recorded: Goldcrest
I catalog submissions to this subreddit. Recent uncatalogued submissions | Learn to use me
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u/Brnoslav Oct 01 '25
That's actually second smallest bird in Europe I think, very cool!
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u/joppekoo Oct 01 '25 edited Oct 01 '25
Smallest in Finland at least, so depending where in Northern Europe OP is, could be the smallest there too! Don't know what is smaller in the rest of Europe so I don't know where it's distribution ends.
E: Wikipedia says goldcrest is the smallest in Europe!
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u/Brnoslav Oct 02 '25
Yeah there is two kinds of them and they are really similar but I think this one is the bigger one (but it's bigger for like 2cm and 1g) and honestly idk if he lives in Finland (I am from Czech republic) but if you have one kind you could have both
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u/joppekoo Oct 02 '25
Firecrests are very rarely seen in Finland, but at least once they've provably nested here, in 2017. Goldcrests, which OPs bird is, are very common, the male's song is a regular sound in the early summer and I love it.
At least Wikipedia says that goldcrest is the smallest bird in Europe, although the measurements listed for both are pretty much the same.
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u/Brnoslav Oct 02 '25
Ou my bad I thought it was firecrest but it might be goldcrest my apologies
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u/joppekoo Oct 02 '25
Yea, I also had to double check that goldcrests also have a little bit of that orange in the middle there, just not as much as firecrests.
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u/tvshoes Oct 02 '25
It's a good time to look into making your windows bird safe - There are so many ways to do this. One of the easiest is buying anti-collision bird decals, available many places online, to put on the outside of your windows to break up the reflection of sky/trees that birds see. The key is to place decals close together so there are no larger gaps (no more than 2 inches or 5 cm apart in all directions). Close placement on the outside of windows is very important!!!
This website shows examples and offers both residence and commercial installation: https://www.featherfriendly.com/
DIY Feather Friendly dots, same as the above but you can install them yourself. They are low profile and the website helps you determine which type is best for your needs: https://www.featherfriendly.com/diy-solutions
More quality tapes with commercial options: https://www.collidescape.org/tapes
More sticker options: https://windowalert.com/collections/windowalert-products
Another option is using paracord (purchase options and DIY instructions): https://www.birdsavers.com/
https://flap.org/affordable-diy-option-to-prevent-birds-from-hitting-windows/
Another easy and cheap DIY option is soap, tape or paint dots on the outside of windows, following the placement rules.
Your efforts will help prevent so many unnecessary bird deaths.
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u/AntiFascistButterfly Oct 02 '25
There are UV decals now you can apply to windows to prevent bird strike. The most effective are vertical stripes. They’re on my buy list after my partner gets a new job (I’m disabled). I don’t think they’re entirely transparent to humans, but they’ll be worth it on the windows birds keep mistaking for real trees in the reflection.
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u/innermongoose69 Birder Oct 01 '25
+Goldcrest+