Window crash owl leaves imprint

An owl was left in a flap after crashing into a window, leaving a near perfect print of itself on the glass.

Sally Arnold returned home to Kendal, Cumbria, and found the huge imprint complete with eyes, beak and feathers on her bedroom window.

She said: "Our first concern was for the welfare of what we suspected was an owl and we opened up the window to check if it was still around.

"Fortunately, there was no sign of the bird and we can only assume that it had flown away probably suffering from a headache."

The silhouette was left by the bird's "powder down" - a substance protecting growing feathers.

Experts from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) confirmed the bird was most likely a tawny owl because of its size and shape and the fact that they appear in gardens more regularly than others.

Val Osborne, head of the RSPB's wildlife inquiries team, said: "We don't very often see an imprint of a bird that's flown into a window that's this clear and where it's pretty obvious exactly what kind of birds it is.

"This would have been very uncomfortable for the bird but thankfully it looks like it survived as Mr and Mrs Arnold couldn't find it anywhere close by.

"Sadly, many birds aren't so lucky."

Birds often collide with windows or start to attack them, especially at this time of year with so many young birds around, the RSPB said.

http://news.uk.msn.com/uk/window-crash-owl-leaves-imprint

Why birds fly into power lines

Scientists have revealed that birds fly into power lines because they have ‘blind spots’ in their field of vision.


Experts discovered that cranes, bustards and storks were unable to see obstacles straight ahead when they tilted their heads downwards in flight, reports the BBC.

Birds often look down during flight to find fellow birds as well as nesting and feeding areas, according to the researchers.

The new evidence has suggested that altering the appearance of power lines cannot prevent the problem.

Scientists from the Centre for Ornithology at the University of Birmingham, UK, studied three particularly affected species: kori bustards (Aerdeotis kori), blue cranes (Anthropoides paradisea) and white storks (Ciconia ciconia).

Their findings identified that these species share significant blind areas to the front of their heads.

The study was published in the journal Biological Conservation.