Date: 10/24/12 1:17 pm
From: Ellen Paul <ellen.paul...>
Subject: [MDBirding] Re: Death of a Red-breasted Nuthatch


On Tuesday, October 23, 2012 10:01:21 PM UTC-4, Fred Hoffman wrote:
> 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.
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> Fred Hoffman
> Rockville

We had a similar experience in Cape Town South Africa years ago, watching an injured bird deliberately plunge into a swimming pool. We fished it out and placed it in a sheltered area of the garden and it managed to get back into the pool. I surmised that it was injured or ill and hadn't been able to fly and thus find water and the instinct to find water was so strong that it went for the nearest available water and that because there was no way to actually reach the water itself, it jumped in.

Ellen Paul
Bethesda

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