Expecto Patronum!!
Something a little different for this week’s Whatsit Wednesday, squee lovers! This whatsit is not an animal at all, but rather a breathtaking silhouette left behind by an owl who collided with the window of one Sally Arnold in Kendal, Cumbria, UK.
“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,” Arnold told The Mirror. “Fortunately, there was no sign of the bird and we can only assume that it had flown away probably suffering from a headache.”
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds postulates that some of the owl’s “powder down” — a protective substance for growing feathers — is responsible for the IRL Patronus left behind in the wake of the incident.
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Well. there will certainly be really offbeat speculations posted here by fertile imaginations, but I am hoping to read at least a few educated posts here as to the potential endurance of owls in this sort of impact, and exactly how long this image should remain on the glass, or whether it might be permanent damage maybe similar to etched glass.
Perhaps leaving the image on the glass will deter smaller birds from doing the same thing and possibly suffering a worse fate than just a headache?
I’m glad to hear the bird flew off. I hope it WAS unharmed, but I’d guess if it was enough of an impact to do serious damage it would at least have been too stunned to fly off straight away.
I certainly hope the little guy is ok. That aside, that image is pretty spectacular…
This is when those glowing window decals come in handy!
Small birds, like Tennessee Warblers, can be killed by these impacts. I hope it was able to fly off and didn’t drag itself to a hiding place.
Like these: http://www.windowalert.com/
(Not spam, I am not affiliated with the company. I have their window decals all over my windows though!)
One of my cockatiels did that inside–he’s alright, couldn’t get too much speed cuz his wings are clipped. But I left the silhouette up for 2 days—it was very intriguing to look at!
….but now when I take him out of the cage, I pull the shades. Doesn’t stop him from flying, but he doesn’t go towards the windows.
must’ve been texting while flying.
That’s NOT squee. Spectacular images deserve merit, but if they’re not squee, then they belong on an honorable mention page or something.
But it’s a patronus. Of course it’s squee.
Seconded.
Yeah, in my experience, birds that smack glass hard enough to leave an image have an excellent chance of being dead as a result. They may not have seen the beastie but I doubt he just shook it off.
A thrush once smacked into my window hard enough to leave a mark. It lay on the floor for about five hours looking dead. I didn’t touch it, because I was pregnant and worried about catching something – plus its mate was there and kept trying to attack me when I opened the door – but after five hours of being unconscious it got up, shook itself, and flew off.
My parrot once flew into the window when I forgot to close an inner door, and left an imprint. I was terrified, but she was was fine. She was scared but okay. Some bird species are just REALLY dusty, and leave this dust behind. African greys, cockatiels, and owls are among them.
reminds me of that owl from harry potter, the one that’s a menace.
Errol?
it’s the one that delivers Ron’s mail.
Yes, that would be Errol.
“That bird’s a bloody menace..”
This looks just like the owl that swooped onto my deck tonight, trying to snatch one of my micro-dogs!!
I had an impression like that on my bedroom mirror when my cockatiel flew into it. (he was fine, just a bit stunned)
I kept that dusty image on my mirror for months, ‘cuz it was so cool!
Something like that happened to the back porch window at my parent’s house, only in this case it was a mourning dove that hit the window head-on. I joked that it looked like an image of the Holy Spirit, like those images of Jesus and Mary that keep appearing on food and buildings.
Who ever this window belongs to is luck the owl didn’t go through it. Larger birds that hit window usually have a better chance at getting back up after crashing than the small ones.
I don’t know about you guys, but if I found something like that on my sliding door I think I would start screaming and never stop.
DUDE! THATS SO COOL! The same thing happens on my window, but it never leaves that awesome of an image…
Yeah, this happened to a barn owl at the house of one of my friends. It was fine; just sat on the ground for a minute looking ruffled (who wouldn’t?) and then took off. Owls look as if they’re pretty resilient physically, even compared to other birds of a similar size.
It’s a sign from Glaux!
Our house has a quite large window. The problem is the reflection of the nearby brook. Many poor birdies kept flying into this window and a lot of them died :/ We tried stuff like large stickers with silhouettes of birds of prey or bells. Finally, we found a solution: old CDs on cords. Looks quite stupid, but prevents the birds from flying into our window
“Negative Ghost Rider, the pattern is full”…………………
Dusty bastid, lol. Our cockatiels used to leave bird-prints on everything they crashed into, too.
I’m glad the owl was (presumably) okay. It’s still a neat photo.
(and it reminded me of Errol, as well :p )
I never imagined I would look at owl dandruff and think it was cool.