I had a very odd, and sad experience yesterday, October 22, 2012. I was
walking along the lake at the Washingtonian Shopping Center, near the Rio
theater complex in Gaithersburg, when I saw a small bird fall from the roof
of the complex, frantically trying to fly, and falling into into the water.
It was maybe 75 yards ahead of me. It continued to struggle in the water
for about a minute and then became still. I initially was too far away to
tell what species it was. I figured it was probably a House Sparrow. But
as I approached the bird, still floating lifelessly on the water not far
from shore, I could see it was a Red-breasted Nuthatch! What a RBNU was
doing in a Shopping Center, and why it made a leap into the lake is a
mystery to me. It was obviously injured, unable to fly, and perhaps
diseased as there is no good reason for a Nuthatch to be in a treeless,
concrete environment. Perhaps it was injured by a predator and was trying
to escape. I would be interested to hear comments.
Fred Hoffman
Rockville
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