What to Do with Dead Birds
Millions of birds die annually from window collisions. We need your help to make Philadelphia safer for birds, and that starts with learning more about where birds are colliding with windows in our area.
It is always sad to find a dead bird, but with your help we can use the information you gather from the event to save birds in the future.
Please take the time to contribute information about the collision to Bird Safe Philly’s project on iNaturalist. Please see our website (birdsafephilly.org) for more information, but as a first step, please collect the following information:
If you can salvage the dead bird specimen with associated data (see directions below), we would like specimens to be donated to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University.
You are allowed to be in possession of a dead bird if your intent is to transfer this bird to the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University (ordinarily it is illegal to possess dead birds). The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University has all appropriate federal and state permits required to accept and retain these specimens for research, documentation, and educational purposes. You MAY NOT KEEP any salvaged birds or their parts, it is against the law without these permits.
Please use the following directions to associate critical data with each specimen so that it is optimally useful for the project.
Supplies needed for salvage of dead birds:
- Your cell phone camera (or other camera) for iNaturalist photos of dead birds
- Ziplock bags (sandwich, quart, and a few gallon sized for bigger birds such as
American Woodcock)
- Labels (you can print blank data labels from page 2 of this document).
- Sharpie or other permanent pen for writing on labels.
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Time and date when you found the bird
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The exact location, including the address of the building and a description of where along the building you found the bird.
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Pictures of the bird from multiple angles to help with identification
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Pictures of where you found the bird
Procedure
1. Document for iNaturalist Birds Safe Philly Bird Strikes Project: If you find a dead bird double check that it is in fact dead and not simply stunned. Take pictures of the bird and of the surroundings for upload to iNaturalist.
2. Pick up dead bird for salvage: You can use the ziploc bag turned inside out as a hand covering to pick up the bird without touching it or you can sanitize your hands after handling it. The museum will accept incomplete specimens and can help identify these salvaged parts. (PLEASE PLACE ONE BIRD ONLY IN EACH ZIPLOCK BAG)
3. Fill out a Data label and place inside the bag with bird: (these data are critical to our data collection for the project). Legibly fill out the salvage label using a sharpie or other permanent pen and provide:
a. Date
b. Time
c. Your Name (Community Monitor Name)
d. Address including city etc. where found
e. Side of Building (N,S, E or W)
f. Species
g. Cause of death or injury (building collision, window collision, roadkill, non-cat predation, predation by cat, fell out of nest, unknown)
h. iNaturalist observation number. You can find this number on your computer by opening the observation and looking at the web address. The observation number will be at the end of the address. For example, for “https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/59614918” the number is “59614918.” On a mobile device you can find the web address and the number when you click to share the observation.
4. Transport the dead bird specimens to the Academy of Natural Sciences: During Spring migration (Spring: 15 March – 30 May) any day of the week or weekend you can drop birds off at a no contact drop off (due to COVID 19) at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, 19th street entrance, between the hours of 8:00-9:00 am. There will be a labeled bin for depositing the specimens in the corner along the wall immediately inside the 19th street entrance. If you cannot find the bin please ask the security guard at the desk. If you cannot drop the specimens off on the day that you salvaged them, you can place the bagged birds in a standard freezer and get them to the museum on another day during the drop off hours. If you are not dropping off on the day of salvage it is critical that you freeze the specimens.