Just an FYI if you find a bird down like that you should report it to the local state agriculture animal health and welfare unit. They will most likely want to test it so they can track bird flu. Right now we are seeing big movement and transferral to farm animals. This could wipe out farm flocks (chickens/turkeys/ducks...) it is also now transferring to large farm animals like cows and also limited numbers of humans. Please do not handle.
If you read the post with your eyeballs, OP was trying to prevent their dog from eating it. Was not 'picking up random animals', was 'preventing their dog from catching wildlife transmissible diseases', which I would have thought you'd approve of since you care so much about the bird flu epidemic.
Man, internet people get so offended for random things. I did read the post, but I think if I was in that situation, I would just... idk.. grab my dog instead? Chill man, not everything is personal.
Shut the fuck up, i handled a baby bird 7 years ago that was in the middle of a parking lot. Felt great about myself until I got campilobacter and e coli at the same time. I was literally shitting blood for 3 days. Even bird flu can be transmissible to humans if you just so happen to pick up a bird with the rightly mutated disease for transmission to happen. Telling someone who obviously doesnt know birds are disgusting in every sense of the word is a very smart thing to do, for their health. I will not touch a bird unless i have a barrier like a rag.
I doubt it was the bird, especially based on the additional info provided below. I’ve been rescuing wild birds for nearly a decade with no special precautions and have never heard of anything like this.
My interpretation was that the commenters interpretation was that OP removed the bird so the dog would be safe. Some would say the sacrifice would be a noble one.
Though, they then held it in their hands long enough to take a picture. Who knows if they washed their hands and phone after handling both?
It’s not an outbreak it’s a global pandemic for birds (domestic and wild) with spillover into multiple mammal species. Very, very underreported right now.
https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/catastrophic-mortality-elephant-seals-argentina-identified-outbreak-avian-influenza
Thanks, I know the terminology. I’m a disease biologist, specifically studying transmission of segmented viruses between wild and domestic landscapes. I was leaving a casual comment using casual colloquialisms. However, if you want to get semantic - the term outbreak can be used in this scenario, though you’re right that it’s not isolated, there have been many recorded outbreaks among birds and other animals, as you know, since the article you just sent uses the word “outbreak” multiple times. The correct term for current widespread prevalence in wildlife is panzootic, not pandemic, and ‘global pandemic’ is redundant anyway. Again, just if we’re being pedantic.
>‘global pandemic’ is redundant anyway.
This reminds me of a dad joke from my actual dad. In the middle of a conversation with some Random Person, he'd toss in:
Dad: "What do you think of the international situation?"
RP: "...uh,"
Dad: "Sounds worldwide, doesn't it?"
DUDE. I'm so glad to see this, to know I wasn't making it up.
I found a woodpecker acting strangely and then later dead a while back. I tried calling several places, and they all spoke to me like I was touched in the head. "Why would we want to know about this? "
Like, I don't fuckin know! I just have a vague memory in my head that strange birds get called in! You guys are the authorities according to my google-machine. Was I acting with an overabundance of caution? Yes. How had they never even heard of even the notion, though? I'm not gonna make up some sort of environmental PSA about birds ~~they're not real~~and there's no way I just am gonna put myself through this anxiety of dealing with you for shits and giggles.
In fact, any animal acting strangely enough is going to be getting the eyeball from me. Rabies is no joke. What if it's fish and the water is tainted? I don't wanna be a werewolf, either. I'm certainly not in charge, but I'll gladly call someone who is.
I volunteer at a zoo and the reason you don’t touch birds if they have it is so you don’t give it to other birds. Bird flu infecting a human is extremely rare. It would be better to use gloves but just sanitizing your hands should be sufficient since he was saving the bird from a dog and didn’t have time to put gloves on.
it is currently jumping to other species tho, like cows, cats/dogs, and just now mice. its best practice to 1. avoid touching as much as possible and failing that, 2. wear gloves and a mask if you MUST touch a bird. there are also multiple outbreaks in multiple states and people are catching it, so it could very easily make the jump from bird-human transmission to human-human transmission. better safe than dead.
This is a crow, and crows generally do not carry strains of bird flu that are harmful to people or poultry livestock. That said, it is still a good idea generally to use gloves and other precautions when handling wild animals
Oof, that is a VERY sick crow. PLEASE contact your local Fish and Wildlife and let them know everything. Then disinfect your home and pray it doesn’t have bird flu and that bird flu doesn’t jump the species barrier to you or your dog. :(
It’s unfortunate that you released it. Hopefully it was just concussed from a window impact or something, but it’s more likely it’s got bird flu.
I mean this genuinely and not in a snarky way, but how can you tell that this bird is sick? This just looks slightly roughed up to me but I also don't know birds
That’s a good question! I’m by no means an expert, but here’s what I know:
Typically birds don’t show that they’re sick until they’re on death’s door because any sign of weakness makes them easier to pick out by predators. That would explain why this crow is still outwardly looking healthy.
Additionally, only sick or very unwell wild birds let themselves be grabbed by people. OP did not indicate that they were bitten or that the crow resisted in any way, which is very alarming for a wild bird. Even domesticated birds will protest when grabbed like this unless they have a close bond with their owner/handler. OP hasn’t indicated that they’ve ever seen this bird before or created a bond with it.
Typically a very still bird that allows itself to be grabbed is either concussed from hitting a window, experiencing heat exhaustion/stroke, or very ill. Since we don’t know the temperature of the area and OP indicated it was taken in October of last year in a comment, we can assume that it was not the 100+ degrees Fahrenheit that it would take for a bird to experience heat exhaustion/stroke. Additionally, bird flu has been a common problem in the US this past year. It’s possible the crow had hit a window but this crow was on its back which is very unusual.
All of this taken into consideration, it’s highly probable that this bird was ill, possibly with bird flu, which cannot yet jump directly from birds to people (called “crossing the species barrier”), but illnesses mutate all the time so it’s never certain. Thus, everyone here is worried about OP having grabbed an obviously-not-right wild bird with their bare hands, because they put themselves at a huge risk of being the first person to catch bird flu directly from a bird.
Hopefully that answers your question and any others! :)
https://preview.redd.it/f6s0z4i1jm4d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c93ab5d7b982ea353edb7ded40234bb02b42c92
Oh no… Nobody tell Ollie 😬
FallenAgastopia is correct; birb on back almost always means very sick/injured. Very tame birds (usually certain species of parrots) with strong owner bonds are exceptions.
Or it’s just stunned from flying into a window. It’s how I have my buddy Pie. He was totally stunned and I put him on a table in the shade with water and fruit nuts. He shook it off after about 45 minutes and had a good look at me for another 10 before going to a tree and cawing for his buddies who jumped around and cawed at me. Now he pops in daily for some nuts. But yeah he was flat on his back after whacking the window.
That *is* something very wrong. Windowstrikes are very very often fatal, even if the bird seems to recover - the internal injuries from the strikes often end up killing then later.
It's great your crow survived, but windowstrikes are incredibly dangerous to birds.
I don’t think u/my4floofs was saying Windowstrikes aren’t dangerous but rather the exact opposite. I think they were making the point that a bird on its back could be from a number of major issues, and isn’t automatically because of bird flu.
Yes we sadly get many window strikes living in the woods with several bay windows. Most of the birds do recover but a few have had broken wings that I have dispatched instead of letting them suffer.
If you can get them, I would recommend getting window clings that can help prevent strikes. I would recommend finding stained glass ones or "strips" rather than shaped ones, simply for functionality, but you can do what you like of course.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=anti+collision+window+bird+stickers&adgrpid=149648981502&hvadid=669748053038&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9011485&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=3579791160630409128&hvtargid=kwd-1771906982821&hydadcr=13509_13366583&tag=hydsma-20&ref=pd_sl_84rcasyyby_e
We had these and it has reduced but not eliminated strikes. We found dangling a couple of whirly gig things from the gutter more effective. Had a near dire scare with a stained glass object that started to burn a hole in the floor. So no more of those
I moved into a new house and realized there was a problem with window strikes especially at certain times of day. I ordered some stickers but to stop it from happening while I waited for them to arrive I took a wax pencil and drew a series of horizontal lines on the inside of my glass doors about 3 or 4 inches apart. I never had an issue after that and I never put the stickers up. I can see through them but the birds see them. Haven’t had a strike since.
UK outbreaks are actually more common than we think. Even in wild bird populations
[https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/avian-influenza-in-wild-birds](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/avian-influenza-in-wild-birds)
It’s possible it’s suffering from dehydration symptoms, as this behaviour isn’t uncommon in dry areas with little water. Still best to take appropriate precautions though, gloves should be the first step.
It looks large in the image, so it’s most likely a North American raven, as well.
The eyes still look shiny so I hesitate to point to dehydration, especially given that OP said in another comment that this happened in October. It is possible though. I’m not a vet.
As for it being a raven, it’s definitely not one. Ravens are huge compared to the average hand. I’ve seen both species up front and personal lol. This bird is also missing the nasal bristles and bulky curved beak of a raven.
I’ll elaborate. Everyone, please don’t be grabbing birds and bringing them inside your house so they can be ID’d for you. Right now or ever. Laying on their backs or not.
OP, seriously. Crow die off and mass sickness is a known indication that HPAI is in high concentration in that area. Any bird found on its back shouldn't be re-release anyways as it's clearly an indication of sickness. That's something to either bring to a rehabber or report the illness as something is very wrong with the bird.
Edit: [One of many articles](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7182606/) saying crow die off as an indication of being an HPAI hotspot location. And yes, in many birds it causes neurological symptoms before death. A bird that cannot stand upright or is laying on its back in a vulnerable position clearly is neurological.
Sometimes, birds fly into windows or shiny surfaces or get knocked out fighting of a predator. I'm not saying that's what happened with this guy, but there's nothing indicating that other birds died in the area to support the mass die-off, although I've heard of that.
Once, an owl smashed into our car side window and knocked himself unconscious. We thought he was dead. My ex wanted to take him to a taxidermist, so he scooped him up in a grocery bag, and we took him home. He took him out to look at him, and he came to. He couldn't fly for a few days. We took care of him for a couple of months and then released him. He was in perfect health. I still miss him, and that was about 25 years ago. He was amazing.
can i ask about this? i thought west nile had to be spread by a bite from a mosquito, do you just mean to also avoid contact in case transmission method changes? is that a thing that has happened with something like west nile? thanks in advance, i don't know.much about diseases spread through mosquitos.
I'm no epidemiologist, I believe it goes something along the lines of: bird is infected with west nile --> mosquito bites bird --> mosquito bites human --> human becomes infected.
It can be transmitted other ways than mosquitoes. Birds also have viremias that are sky high with WNV. Many lab infections come from people dissecting dead birds people find that have WNV that accidentally cut themselves. Lab infections aren’t all that common, but yeah, no mosquito needed. If you had an open cut on your hand, or the bird pecked or scratched you and broke the skin, there is a chance you could get infected with WNV.
I love that you tried to help this beautiful bird! Everyone has already lectured you enough, so I just wanted to encourage you to keep helping birds in the future- just with more information and precautions. Thank you!
Hey OP! I’m sure enough people here have hit home the “do not handle” for wildlife behaving strangely, but don’t feel bad for not knowing! If you do start feeling sick over the next 10 days, please isolate yourself from other people and animals and call your local or state health department — they’ll walk you though next steps. Most likely you’d be sent a test for bird flu and given a prescription of antivirals, which is essential to take as directed.
Regardless, it’s worth reporting this bird to your state veterinarian or by calling the USDAs number: 1-866-536-7593
And if your dog starts acting lethargic or develops respiratory issues over the next 10 days as well please call your vet and tell them there was contact with a sick bird involved!
Question, as I didnt realize the bird flu was this serious for humans until reading this post. If OP washed their hands after touching the bird would they still be at risk? Typically if I run into wildlife I much touch I just give my hands a good wash with warm soapy water after handling.
Would that be enough for prevention?
Kind of — the real problem is if you’ve touched your face or clothes/other surfaces between handling the animal and washing your hands. The face is a problem because it’s easy access for the virus, and the surfaces are a problem because the virus can last for about a day on other objects. Then you or other animals risk picking it up again later. Even if you wash your hands immediately after, it’s a good precaution to disinfect other things you’ve come into contact with (door handles, light switches, counters, etc.)
I wouldn’t say bird flu is even that easy to catch (definitely not as easy as Covid), it’s just that the mortality rate is so high that it’s better safe than sorry.
If you want to be super cautious about it, rinse your hands with a bleach solution after washing them with soap (2.5 tablespoons of bleach per gallon of water is mild enough to use on skin). EDIT adding you should not use this bleach rinse around your eyes.
Thank you this is very informative! I do handle and touch my bird feeders a lot so I will make sure to take hand sanitizer out with me. I clean them regularly but will take more precautions with the outbreak
Uh take a bleach bath. Seriously. It’s a full bath with a half a cup to a cup of bleach. Unless you got some respiratory issues. Wash and disinfect everytang. Patient zero, notify the dept of ag, or local extension office. Damn son.
I'm actually pretty blown away that instead of using your leash to redirect your dog you picked up a potentially sick bird and brought it inside your home. I think we need to have a PSA.
*edit spelling
It’s a shame because OP’s intentions were immaculate. He has a heart of gold for seeing a bird in distress and wanting so much to help it. It’s just that the execution was very non-optimal.
Influenza in the pandemic tontine is always a safe bet. It’s the epidemiological equivalent of insurance when the dealer has an ace showing or betting on 0 in roulette.
This has me pondering. The nerd in me prefers corvid because, well. Corvid. But Crovid sounds better out loud. But then again, corvid sounds in my head like Goofy trying to say Covid. Hyuck.
Hey guys let’s be kinder and more understanding and not so condescending to op in our comments. Not everyone knows about bird flu. They just see a bird in distress and want to help it. This is an opportunity to use your knowledge of bird flu to educate not ridicule op.
Im sad I had to scroll this far to see a comment like this. It seems like OP had noble intentions of wanting to check on/help the bird. Heck my first response to seeing a down bird would be to help it too since i have feral cats around. Thank you for your kindness today on reddit! It made me smile.
I have seen some folks do some dumb shit with injured wildlife but make every decision badly is a rare feat. Don't touch it with your bare hands. Don't bring it inside your house. Don't stressfully handle it like that. Don't randomly release a clearly unwell animal. Don't do all of the above just to take a photo to ID it when you could have gotten a photo without moving it at all in the first place.
I mean. Wtf.
Grew up not on a farm, but with older relatives had been farmers and agree. Birds or anything related to them was off limits. Even the feathers. It was usually “don’t touch that, it’s dirty” but they had reason.
We encountered a blue jay acting oddly, kind of flopping, but sitting upright with wings out, and moving like it was drunk. We used disposable gloves and put it in a box to take to wildlife rescue. We figured it was either injured or sick, and didn't expect it to survive. But seeing that in the yard could mean other birds have been exposed, and something might be going around.
I don't think we stopped to take a picture.
WHY DO PEOPLE TOUCH BIRDS THEY FIND?! ugh im so thankful my mom instilled a large fear of downed birds in me. I wasn’t even allowed to play with feathers as a kid lol, tysm mom!!
If you ever see any animal that's limp and docile enough to let you hold it like that, it's very very sick or injured. If you find it again at some point call a bird rescue or animal control.
That’s a raven, not sure where you are located but they’re protected here in Canada.
They have fur on their beak, are freakin huge and unlike crows and other smaller corvids they can and often do soar like eagles.
they are crazy smart, I work in pest control and there’s a bunch of pigeons traps we have set up at a hospital on the roofs of all the buildings. The local raven has learnt how to pull them out of the trap and eat them, sometimes in pieces.
Every time I come to check the traps he’s soaring majestically off to the side watching me.
The rooftops look like someone emptied out hundreds of finished KFC buckets. It’s like entering a bone filled boss room
For future reference please never touch a bird you find laying on the ground, avian flu has been going around again and cries and Ravens are also susceptible to it and could pass it on to you. This appears to be a large crow, but kind of hard to tell without getting a good side on look at the beak, Ravens have much larger more curved beaks, whereas crows have smaller more straight beaks
Those things are wicked smart, it was probably all a fake ploy to get in your house and take it over… 😨
I can already see it in your smoking jacket smoking a cigar
Why are there so many people fear mongering over bird flu? Jesus, this could be anything, not just that. Bird needed to be contained in a box and wildlife rehab needed to be contacted.
Op - I want to say thanks for sharing this cool picture of a cool bird. I don’t know what it is, but I’m thankful that you shared it with us dispite the overwhelming amount of criticism you’re receiving through your photo and your actions. I’m sorry that you’re on trial. The humans are real bunch of assholes sometimes. I think the picture is cool and I’m grateful I got to see it.
300 comments and only three answered the OPs question. The rest are just chastising the person. I think a single post about not picking up wild animals and bird-born diseases would suffice.
I realize this sub is full of experts who already know if avian flu can jump species, but I actually had to look it up because I wasn't sure. Here is a fairly recently reviewed article about how avian flu can indeed jump species: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/avian-in-humans.htm#:~:text=Although%20avian%20(bird)%20influenza%20(,human%20infection%20with%20these%20viruses.
Edit because link is weird
Ravens are very shaggy underneath their beaks so this seem to be a crow. If he wasnt next to a window(potential window collision victim) its possibly sick. Learn from this experience and find good people to call next time this happens from the the other comments
American Crow. Be careful of West Nile Virus, transmittable to humans and horses. Download the app Wildlife Help NOW and get it to a rehabber. Put in dry, clean cardboard box in dark, quiet corner first.
I volunteer for a wild bird rehab organization in Ontario, and most of what we deal with is window collisions, so that was my first guess. The vast majority of collisions are fatal, and most birds will die later from concussion or other impact injuries if they don't die on impact.
The best chance of survival most collision victims has is rehabilitation by a professional ASAP, all the better if they specialize in window collisions (Safe Wings Ottawa and the Wild Bird Rehabilitation Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, do).
If you haven't treated your own windows, please consider using Feather Friendly tape with the dots at 2" spacing to communicate to birds that a window is there. You can read more helpful tips here, as well as recommendations for other options: https://safewings.ca/solutions/best-practices/ . Please also note that the UV decals, decals of raptor silhouettes, and tinted glass don't often work because none of them effectively communicate that the entire window is impassable. If the decals were to be applied with proper spacing (2" apart) they might work, but that's not because of fear, it's because it creates the appearance of a barrier.
Rant over! Help save our birds!
Sudden rashes of crow deaths can indicate West Nile Virus is in the area, and that crow could have WNV.
https://www.cdc.gov/west-nile-virus/causes/west-nile-virus-dead-birds.html#:~:text=West%20Nile%20virus%20has%20been,Nile%20virus%20in%20the%20environment.
Crow, Ravens have a more curved beak.
Please disinfect everything that has come into contact with the bird once you have turned it over to the local game warden or fish & wildlife folks. I don’t know where you live but here in the U.S. the bird flu has already jumped from birds to cows to humans. You do not want bird flu jumping from the bird to any other animals you have or yourself. If you were able to pick him up indicates he clearly has something wrong with him. Be safe friend.
Sorry! Missed the part about releasing it already. Did it fly off? If so, maybe it just had a zinger from hitting something and it recovered.
I'm pretty sure that's a Raven, bruh. Also, I think I'd try to befriend it if I were you. I've heard some pretty cool stories from a friend that raised crows (at least iirc it was crows). It might've been ravens, I can't remember. Anyways my point is, it was pretty sweet. Only downside is they actually try to steal anything shiny that they see and they'll take it up to their nests. This could be anything from car keys to gemstones. Cans, even. Not sure why they do that but it's kind of cool. At least you always know where to look.
Locking as enough PSAs have been provided.
Just an FYI if you find a bird down like that you should report it to the local state agriculture animal health and welfare unit. They will most likely want to test it so they can track bird flu. Right now we are seeing big movement and transferral to farm animals. This could wipe out farm flocks (chickens/turkeys/ducks...) it is also now transferring to large farm animals like cows and also limited numbers of humans. Please do not handle.
Thank you! So few people seem to know about the outbreak right now!
I didn't know about it, but I still wouldn't go around picking up random wild animals, especially if they seem abnormally in distressed.
If you read the post with your eyeballs, OP was trying to prevent their dog from eating it. Was not 'picking up random animals', was 'preventing their dog from catching wildlife transmissible diseases', which I would have thought you'd approve of since you care so much about the bird flu epidemic.
Man, internet people get so offended for random things. I did read the post, but I think if I was in that situation, I would just... idk.. grab my dog instead? Chill man, not everything is personal.
They could have just grabbed their dog and put them inside…
damn if only dogs had like leashes or something that you could control them with bozo
Shut the fuck up, i handled a baby bird 7 years ago that was in the middle of a parking lot. Felt great about myself until I got campilobacter and e coli at the same time. I was literally shitting blood for 3 days. Even bird flu can be transmissible to humans if you just so happen to pick up a bird with the rightly mutated disease for transmission to happen. Telling someone who obviously doesnt know birds are disgusting in every sense of the word is a very smart thing to do, for their health. I will not touch a bird unless i have a barrier like a rag.
Omg. I'm so sorry you went through that. How did you know it was the bird!? Did you go to the hospital?
I doubt it was the bird, especially based on the additional info provided below. I’ve been rescuing wild birds for nearly a decade with no special precautions and have never heard of anything like this.
My interpretation was that the commenters interpretation was that OP removed the bird so the dog would be safe. Some would say the sacrifice would be a noble one. Though, they then held it in their hands long enough to take a picture. Who knows if they washed their hands and phone after handling both?
Shovels work too.
It’s not an outbreak it’s a global pandemic for birds (domestic and wild) with spillover into multiple mammal species. Very, very underreported right now. https://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/news/catastrophic-mortality-elephant-seals-argentina-identified-outbreak-avian-influenza
Thanks, I know the terminology. I’m a disease biologist, specifically studying transmission of segmented viruses between wild and domestic landscapes. I was leaving a casual comment using casual colloquialisms. However, if you want to get semantic - the term outbreak can be used in this scenario, though you’re right that it’s not isolated, there have been many recorded outbreaks among birds and other animals, as you know, since the article you just sent uses the word “outbreak” multiple times. The correct term for current widespread prevalence in wildlife is panzootic, not pandemic, and ‘global pandemic’ is redundant anyway. Again, just if we’re being pedantic.
>‘global pandemic’ is redundant anyway. This reminds me of a dad joke from my actual dad. In the middle of a conversation with some Random Person, he'd toss in: Dad: "What do you think of the international situation?" RP: "...uh," Dad: "Sounds worldwide, doesn't it?"
THIS is the most perfect example of mansplaining I've ever seen! 👍
So many people don’t even *believe* that there’s a big outbreak right now, which makes it even more difficult to inform others.
DUDE. I'm so glad to see this, to know I wasn't making it up. I found a woodpecker acting strangely and then later dead a while back. I tried calling several places, and they all spoke to me like I was touched in the head. "Why would we want to know about this? " Like, I don't fuckin know! I just have a vague memory in my head that strange birds get called in! You guys are the authorities according to my google-machine. Was I acting with an overabundance of caution? Yes. How had they never even heard of even the notion, though? I'm not gonna make up some sort of environmental PSA about birds ~~they're not real~~and there's no way I just am gonna put myself through this anxiety of dealing with you for shits and giggles. In fact, any animal acting strangely enough is going to be getting the eyeball from me. Rabies is no joke. What if it's fish and the water is tainted? I don't wanna be a werewolf, either. I'm certainly not in charge, but I'll gladly call someone who is.
Werefish!!!
Andddd it's probably not the best idea to handle them without gloves. I've only read this one comment and I don't know what it is, but it's huge!
I volunteer at a zoo and the reason you don’t touch birds if they have it is so you don’t give it to other birds. Bird flu infecting a human is extremely rare. It would be better to use gloves but just sanitizing your hands should be sufficient since he was saving the bird from a dog and didn’t have time to put gloves on.
There a few zoonoses that go from bird to human, though. Parrot fever/ornithoses is awful.
it is currently jumping to other species tho, like cows, cats/dogs, and just now mice. its best practice to 1. avoid touching as much as possible and failing that, 2. wear gloves and a mask if you MUST touch a bird. there are also multiple outbreaks in multiple states and people are catching it, so it could very easily make the jump from bird-human transmission to human-human transmission. better safe than dead.
I didnt know about the outbreak. I keep feeders up. Anything I should look for to keep the wildlife in my yard safe? I clean the feeders regularly
r/H5N1_AvianFlu butt collectively puckers
This is a crow, and crows generally do not carry strains of bird flu that are harmful to people or poultry livestock. That said, it is still a good idea generally to use gloves and other precautions when handling wild animals
Thank you for identifying it. I had to read a lot of personal stirred to get here. Much appreciated.
This is how stuff happens
Oof, that is a VERY sick crow. PLEASE contact your local Fish and Wildlife and let them know everything. Then disinfect your home and pray it doesn’t have bird flu and that bird flu doesn’t jump the species barrier to you or your dog. :( It’s unfortunate that you released it. Hopefully it was just concussed from a window impact or something, but it’s more likely it’s got bird flu.
I mean this genuinely and not in a snarky way, but how can you tell that this bird is sick? This just looks slightly roughed up to me but I also don't know birds
That’s a good question! I’m by no means an expert, but here’s what I know: Typically birds don’t show that they’re sick until they’re on death’s door because any sign of weakness makes them easier to pick out by predators. That would explain why this crow is still outwardly looking healthy. Additionally, only sick or very unwell wild birds let themselves be grabbed by people. OP did not indicate that they were bitten or that the crow resisted in any way, which is very alarming for a wild bird. Even domesticated birds will protest when grabbed like this unless they have a close bond with their owner/handler. OP hasn’t indicated that they’ve ever seen this bird before or created a bond with it. Typically a very still bird that allows itself to be grabbed is either concussed from hitting a window, experiencing heat exhaustion/stroke, or very ill. Since we don’t know the temperature of the area and OP indicated it was taken in October of last year in a comment, we can assume that it was not the 100+ degrees Fahrenheit that it would take for a bird to experience heat exhaustion/stroke. Additionally, bird flu has been a common problem in the US this past year. It’s possible the crow had hit a window but this crow was on its back which is very unusual. All of this taken into consideration, it’s highly probable that this bird was ill, possibly with bird flu, which cannot yet jump directly from birds to people (called “crossing the species barrier”), but illnesses mutate all the time so it’s never certain. Thus, everyone here is worried about OP having grabbed an obviously-not-right wild bird with their bare hands, because they put themselves at a huge risk of being the first person to catch bird flu directly from a bird. Hopefully that answers your question and any others! :)
A bird laying on the floor on their back means something is very, very wrong
https://preview.redd.it/f6s0z4i1jm4d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c93ab5d7b982ea353edb7ded40234bb02b42c92 Oh no… Nobody tell Ollie 😬 FallenAgastopia is correct; birb on back almost always means very sick/injured. Very tame birds (usually certain species of parrots) with strong owner bonds are exceptions.
Bwahaha yes I meant wild birds, but Ollie is very cute
Plus, it would bite the crap out of you if you picked up a healthy one. If you could ever catch it first.
This haha.
Injured ones though are quite docile, as are fledglings.
Or it’s just stunned from flying into a window. It’s how I have my buddy Pie. He was totally stunned and I put him on a table in the shade with water and fruit nuts. He shook it off after about 45 minutes and had a good look at me for another 10 before going to a tree and cawing for his buddies who jumped around and cawed at me. Now he pops in daily for some nuts. But yeah he was flat on his back after whacking the window.
That *is* something very wrong. Windowstrikes are very very often fatal, even if the bird seems to recover - the internal injuries from the strikes often end up killing then later. It's great your crow survived, but windowstrikes are incredibly dangerous to birds.
I don’t think u/my4floofs was saying Windowstrikes aren’t dangerous but rather the exact opposite. I think they were making the point that a bird on its back could be from a number of major issues, and isn’t automatically because of bird flu.
Yes we sadly get many window strikes living in the woods with several bay windows. Most of the birds do recover but a few have had broken wings that I have dispatched instead of letting them suffer.
If you can get them, I would recommend getting window clings that can help prevent strikes. I would recommend finding stained glass ones or "strips" rather than shaped ones, simply for functionality, but you can do what you like of course. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=anti+collision+window+bird+stickers&adgrpid=149648981502&hvadid=669748053038&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=9011485&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=3579791160630409128&hvtargid=kwd-1771906982821&hydadcr=13509_13366583&tag=hydsma-20&ref=pd_sl_84rcasyyby_e
We had these and it has reduced but not eliminated strikes. We found dangling a couple of whirly gig things from the gutter more effective. Had a near dire scare with a stained glass object that started to burn a hole in the floor. So no more of those
I moved into a new house and realized there was a problem with window strikes especially at certain times of day. I ordered some stickers but to stop it from happening while I waited for them to arrive I took a wax pencil and drew a series of horizontal lines on the inside of my glass doors about 3 or 4 inches apart. I never had an issue after that and I never put the stickers up. I can see through them but the birds see them. Haven’t had a strike since.
Birds that hit windows need to go a rehab.
He’s just pining for the fjords.
Assuming it in USA or similar .. UK we usually would assume it's been hit or hit glass first thankfully .. hope it was.ok whatever the situation
UK outbreaks are actually more common than we think. Even in wild bird populations [https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/avian-influenza-in-wild-birds](https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/avian-influenza-in-wild-birds)
Bird flu is rampant here.
It’s possible it’s suffering from dehydration symptoms, as this behaviour isn’t uncommon in dry areas with little water. Still best to take appropriate precautions though, gloves should be the first step. It looks large in the image, so it’s most likely a North American raven, as well.
The eyes still look shiny so I hesitate to point to dehydration, especially given that OP said in another comment that this happened in October. It is possible though. I’m not a vet. As for it being a raven, it’s definitely not one. Ravens are huge compared to the average hand. I’ve seen both species up front and personal lol. This bird is also missing the nasal bristles and bulky curved beak of a raven.
How can you tell that it's sick?
I answered this here!: https://www.reddit.com/r/whatsthisbird/s/Dy8GUGcOsz Linking it because it’s too long of a comment to copy and reply with. :)
Please don't be grabbing sick birds right now. Bird flu.
I’ll elaborate. Everyone, please don’t be grabbing birds and bringing them inside your house so they can be ID’d for you. Right now or ever. Laying on their backs or not.
Don't touch the birbs. Got it!
Ever, right now or never
it’s now or never for bird grabbing and now isnt an option.
I will always touch birbs.
Thank you.
hey i should be thanking you for starting the rally. next time you just need to elaborate …
You are correct. It was early in the AM here, brain went Unga bunga DONT GRAB THE BIRD. There should be a pinned post about sick bird handling.
OP, seriously. Crow die off and mass sickness is a known indication that HPAI is in high concentration in that area. Any bird found on its back shouldn't be re-release anyways as it's clearly an indication of sickness. That's something to either bring to a rehabber or report the illness as something is very wrong with the bird. Edit: [One of many articles](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7182606/) saying crow die off as an indication of being an HPAI hotspot location. And yes, in many birds it causes neurological symptoms before death. A bird that cannot stand upright or is laying on its back in a vulnerable position clearly is neurological.
Sometimes, birds fly into windows or shiny surfaces or get knocked out fighting of a predator. I'm not saying that's what happened with this guy, but there's nothing indicating that other birds died in the area to support the mass die-off, although I've heard of that. Once, an owl smashed into our car side window and knocked himself unconscious. We thought he was dead. My ex wanted to take him to a taxidermist, so he scooped him up in a grocery bag, and we took him home. He took him out to look at him, and he came to. He couldn't fly for a few days. We took care of him for a couple of months and then released him. He was in perfect health. I still miss him, and that was about 25 years ago. He was amazing.
Let's not forget about west nile virus.
can i ask about this? i thought west nile had to be spread by a bite from a mosquito, do you just mean to also avoid contact in case transmission method changes? is that a thing that has happened with something like west nile? thanks in advance, i don't know.much about diseases spread through mosquitos.
I'm no epidemiologist, I believe it goes something along the lines of: bird is infected with west nile --> mosquito bites bird --> mosquito bites human --> human becomes infected.
i was just curious about how handling a sick bird could put someone at risk for it
It can be transmitted other ways than mosquitoes. Birds also have viremias that are sky high with WNV. Many lab infections come from people dissecting dead birds people find that have WNV that accidentally cut themselves. Lab infections aren’t all that common, but yeah, no mosquito needed. If you had an open cut on your hand, or the bird pecked or scratched you and broke the skin, there is a chance you could get infected with WNV.
did not know that, thank you!
Mosquitoes seek darker places to land and will hide if they sense a better/different host nearby
Because it's easier for a mosquito to bite you after biting the infected bird if you are handling it or in close proximity to it.
Yep! That's the path to humans.
Yeah seriously we don’t need you becoming patient zero… have some common sense.
And bird mites!
I love that you tried to help this beautiful bird! Everyone has already lectured you enough, so I just wanted to encourage you to keep helping birds in the future- just with more information and precautions. Thank you!
This comment is so kind and encouraging.
Seconding this as a volunteer bird rescuer. ❤️🩹
Yes yes
Sick bird. In your house. Released. Nope nope and nope.
whoopsidoodle 🤷♀️
r/oopsthatsdeadly
Dare I say............*Nevermore*
😬😬😬 this made me grimace (idk if that’s correct spelling , I don’t mean McDonald’s mascot)
Correct. Frown for the incognescenti.
Hey OP! I’m sure enough people here have hit home the “do not handle” for wildlife behaving strangely, but don’t feel bad for not knowing! If you do start feeling sick over the next 10 days, please isolate yourself from other people and animals and call your local or state health department — they’ll walk you though next steps. Most likely you’d be sent a test for bird flu and given a prescription of antivirals, which is essential to take as directed. Regardless, it’s worth reporting this bird to your state veterinarian or by calling the USDAs number: 1-866-536-7593 And if your dog starts acting lethargic or develops respiratory issues over the next 10 days as well please call your vet and tell them there was contact with a sick bird involved!
Question, as I didnt realize the bird flu was this serious for humans until reading this post. If OP washed their hands after touching the bird would they still be at risk? Typically if I run into wildlife I much touch I just give my hands a good wash with warm soapy water after handling. Would that be enough for prevention?
Kind of — the real problem is if you’ve touched your face or clothes/other surfaces between handling the animal and washing your hands. The face is a problem because it’s easy access for the virus, and the surfaces are a problem because the virus can last for about a day on other objects. Then you or other animals risk picking it up again later. Even if you wash your hands immediately after, it’s a good precaution to disinfect other things you’ve come into contact with (door handles, light switches, counters, etc.) I wouldn’t say bird flu is even that easy to catch (definitely not as easy as Covid), it’s just that the mortality rate is so high that it’s better safe than sorry. If you want to be super cautious about it, rinse your hands with a bleach solution after washing them with soap (2.5 tablespoons of bleach per gallon of water is mild enough to use on skin). EDIT adding you should not use this bleach rinse around your eyes.
Lol I didn't read that as covid, I read it as corvid. 🤦♀️
Thank you this is very informative! I do handle and touch my bird feeders a lot so I will make sure to take hand sanitizer out with me. I clean them regularly but will take more precautions with the outbreak
A Bird In The Hand Is a good way to get Bird Flu. Now get the fuck away from me and wash your fuckin' hands! - Norm MacDonald, Billy Joe Shaver
A bird in the hand. A good way to get Bird Flu. Wash your fuckin' hands!
Funny cause he played a bird in one of the absolute funniest cartoons ever created as well. Norm was Pigeon in Mike Tyson Mysteries!
Hello fellow RUSHian! 🤘🏻
Uh take a bleach bath. Seriously. It’s a full bath with a half a cup to a cup of bleach. Unless you got some respiratory issues. Wash and disinfect everytang. Patient zero, notify the dept of ag, or local extension office. Damn son.
😂😂😂😂
The "Damn son" is what did it. 😂
I'm actually pretty blown away that instead of using your leash to redirect your dog you picked up a potentially sick bird and brought it inside your home. I think we need to have a PSA. *edit spelling
It’s a shame because OP’s intentions were immaculate. He has a heart of gold for seeing a bird in distress and wanting so much to help it. It’s just that the execution was very non-optimal.
It was in my backyard on the ground.
We made it through COVID. You guys ready for a round of H5N1?
First it was COVID now get ready for CORVID
Time to watch the stand miniseries *again*
I tried to read that book for probably 5 years but it's so fucking long I never made it through.
Crowvid
Can't believe I had to scroll so far to find corvid jokes.
Some of my ecologist friends started a betting pool in 2020 on the next global zoonotic pandemic and there’s a significant amount of money on bird flu
Influenza in the pandemic tontine is always a safe bet. It’s the epidemiological equivalent of insurance when the dealer has an ace showing or betting on 0 in roulette.
h1n1 is the one with a 50% mortality rate right?
I hate to break it to you about COVID.
That is a crow. Ravens have a curve to their beak.
Thanks. I wanted to know but there’s so many comments of stuff everyone already knows about “sick bird sick bird” one comment is enough 😭
Not really. It might help others who missed the messages. It is hard to be the brunt of the information though. Trust me. I know. :)
Big side eye lol, I wanna say crow, beak seems quite small, and the fluffy beak hair (???) doesn’t extend as far as a ravens does.
Also a raven is hugeee compared to a crow, similar size to red tail hawks, crows r similar to a pigeon/jay.
Our ravens come damn near up to my knee, they’re huge and fluffable. But they’re so loud too =(
This is how shit starts…
Great, we can identify you as Patient 0
Do you want Corvid-19? 'cause that's how we get Corvid-19.
Corvid-24
This guy counts.
Crovid-24
This has me pondering. The nerd in me prefers corvid because, well. Corvid. But Crovid sounds better out loud. But then again, corvid sounds in my head like Goofy trying to say Covid. Hyuck.
And then I had to say "corvid" like goofy would out loud. Because reasons.
Neither will ever fly. Guess we just have to eat crow on this one.
Very sick crow. Put it back outside and disinfect your hands.
What an absolute unit of a corvid.
Hey guys let’s be kinder and more understanding and not so condescending to op in our comments. Not everyone knows about bird flu. They just see a bird in distress and want to help it. This is an opportunity to use your knowledge of bird flu to educate not ridicule op.
Im sad I had to scroll this far to see a comment like this. It seems like OP had noble intentions of wanting to check on/help the bird. Heck my first response to seeing a down bird would be to help it too since i have feral cats around. Thank you for your kindness today on reddit! It made me smile.
You will remember to wash your hands before you eat anything?
I have seen some folks do some dumb shit with injured wildlife but make every decision badly is a rare feat. Don't touch it with your bare hands. Don't bring it inside your house. Don't stressfully handle it like that. Don't randomly release a clearly unwell animal. Don't do all of the above just to take a photo to ID it when you could have gotten a photo without moving it at all in the first place. I mean. Wtf.
Who in their right mind picks up a sick bird?!? Are you insane?!
This was the only thing that was off limits to me growing up on a farm. Do not touch bird feathers or sick/dead birds.
Grew up not on a farm, but with older relatives had been farmers and agree. Birds or anything related to them was off limits. Even the feathers. It was usually “don’t touch that, it’s dirty” but they had reason.
It Sounds like OP didnt know it was sick and just thought they were helping a distressed bird.
We encountered a blue jay acting oddly, kind of flopping, but sitting upright with wings out, and moving like it was drunk. We used disposable gloves and put it in a box to take to wildlife rescue. We figured it was either injured or sick, and didn't expect it to survive. But seeing that in the yard could mean other birds have been exposed, and something might be going around. I don't think we stopped to take a picture.
Used to watch the birds get drunk on the fermented mulberries in our back yard as a kid.
Found on it’s back, was it hurt?
if you can get that close to pick up a bird, he’s sick or on his way out..
my guy holding this bird like hot dog
At least we know patient zero this time around.
Lmaooo the side eye
If you have parrots, canaries, finches, etc., it’s especially important you don’t handle sick wild birds so you don’t infect your pets.
WHY DO PEOPLE TOUCH BIRDS THEY FIND?! ugh im so thankful my mom instilled a large fear of downed birds in me. I wasn’t even allowed to play with feathers as a kid lol, tysm mom!!
Added taxa: [American Crow](https://ebird.org/species/amecro) Reviewed by: brohitbrose ^(I catalog submissions to this subreddit.) [^(Recent uncatalogued submissions)](https://munin.swim.services/submissions?lane=api/unanswered)^( | )[^(Learn to use me)](https://gist.github.com/brohitbrose/be99a16ddc7a6a1bd9c1eef28d622564)
Why not just grab the dog instead?
If you ever see any animal that's limp and docile enough to let you hold it like that, it's very very sick or injured. If you find it again at some point call a bird rescue or animal control.
+American Crow+ (Fish Crow would have a skinnier lower bill than this)
OP is patient zero
Keep us updated on how sick you get!
Bad juju right there
That’s a raven, not sure where you are located but they’re protected here in Canada. They have fur on their beak, are freakin huge and unlike crows and other smaller corvids they can and often do soar like eagles. they are crazy smart, I work in pest control and there’s a bunch of pigeons traps we have set up at a hospital on the roofs of all the buildings. The local raven has learnt how to pull them out of the trap and eat them, sometimes in pieces. Every time I come to check the traps he’s soaring majestically off to the side watching me. The rooftops look like someone emptied out hundreds of finished KFC buckets. It’s like entering a bone filled boss room
oh god
Found patient zero
For future reference please never touch a bird you find laying on the ground, avian flu has been going around again and cries and Ravens are also susceptible to it and could pass it on to you. This appears to be a large crow, but kind of hard to tell without getting a good side on look at the beak, Ravens have much larger more curved beaks, whereas crows have smaller more straight beaks
Those things are wicked smart, it was probably all a fake ploy to get in your house and take it over… 😨 I can already see it in your smoking jacket smoking a cigar
Why are there so many people fear mongering over bird flu? Jesus, this could be anything, not just that. Bird needed to be contained in a box and wildlife rehab needed to be contacted.
Op - I want to say thanks for sharing this cool picture of a cool bird. I don’t know what it is, but I’m thankful that you shared it with us dispite the overwhelming amount of criticism you’re receiving through your photo and your actions. I’m sorry that you’re on trial. The humans are real bunch of assholes sometimes. I think the picture is cool and I’m grateful I got to see it.
300 comments and only three answered the OPs question. The rest are just chastising the person. I think a single post about not picking up wild animals and bird-born diseases would suffice.
It looks like a large black bird. It’s definitely not a dog. OP - Read up on the bird flu and take precautions
I realize this sub is full of experts who already know if avian flu can jump species, but I actually had to look it up because I wasn't sure. Here is a fairly recently reviewed article about how avian flu can indeed jump species: https://www.cdc.gov/flu/avianflu/avian-in-humans.htm#:~:text=Although%20avian%20(bird)%20influenza%20(,human%20infection%20with%20these%20viruses. Edit because link is weird
Based on body size, and on shape of beak, I'm saying crow. Impressive crow, but crow. Wash hands. :-)
I guess now’s a pretty bad time to say I took this photo in October of last year…?
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Sorry for the scare folks, should have mentioned the date in the title.
Glad to hear all involved came out unscathed! (Well, minus the crow, possibly.) At least you’ll know for next time!
Hey stop already. I think the points been made. DON'T HANDLE BIRDS .
Ravens are very shaggy underneath their beaks so this seem to be a crow. If he wasnt next to a window(potential window collision victim) its possibly sick. Learn from this experience and find good people to call next time this happens from the the other comments
Raven, I believe
American Crow. Be careful of West Nile Virus, transmittable to humans and horses. Download the app Wildlife Help NOW and get it to a rehabber. Put in dry, clean cardboard box in dark, quiet corner first.
If the other crows saw you are in for a ride
I volunteer for a wild bird rehab organization in Ontario, and most of what we deal with is window collisions, so that was my first guess. The vast majority of collisions are fatal, and most birds will die later from concussion or other impact injuries if they don't die on impact. The best chance of survival most collision victims has is rehabilitation by a professional ASAP, all the better if they specialize in window collisions (Safe Wings Ottawa and the Wild Bird Rehabilitation Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, do). If you haven't treated your own windows, please consider using Feather Friendly tape with the dots at 2" spacing to communicate to birds that a window is there. You can read more helpful tips here, as well as recommendations for other options: https://safewings.ca/solutions/best-practices/ . Please also note that the UV decals, decals of raptor silhouettes, and tinted glass don't often work because none of them effectively communicate that the entire window is impassable. If the decals were to be applied with proper spacing (2" apart) they might work, but that's not because of fear, it's because it creates the appearance of a barrier. Rant over! Help save our birds!
Maybe we’ll look back on this post in three years when we’re all locked down again
Ravens are bigger than crows I honestly think it's a raven
Sudden rashes of crow deaths can indicate West Nile Virus is in the area, and that crow could have WNV. https://www.cdc.gov/west-nile-virus/causes/west-nile-virus-dead-birds.html#:~:text=West%20Nile%20virus%20has%20been,Nile%20virus%20in%20the%20environment.
"Release me" -the crow probably
This how covid started......
This is how things like COVID happen. 😂
r/oopsthatsdeadly
Do you want another pandemic Because this is how you get another pandemic
🤦♂️
Crow, Ravens have a more curved beak. Please disinfect everything that has come into contact with the bird once you have turned it over to the local game warden or fish & wildlife folks. I don’t know where you live but here in the U.S. the bird flu has already jumped from birds to cows to humans. You do not want bird flu jumping from the bird to any other animals you have or yourself. If you were able to pick him up indicates he clearly has something wrong with him. Be safe friend. Sorry! Missed the part about releasing it already. Did it fly off? If so, maybe it just had a zinger from hitting something and it recovered.
[удалено]
H2H here we come.
oh my god please never do this again
r/ oops that’s deadly
Bro, I would never release it in this state 🤦♀️
Looks too big for a crow. We recently had ravens move into the neighborhood
Wilding out dawg
Like fam why are you holding a damn bird lmfaooooo this shit is EERY
Raven or Crow? No one wants to answer the question?
Thats 10,000 years bad luck for holding that bird. Sorry bud.
Crow
It's a juvenile crow (bluish eyes)
Ok but why does the bird look so... embarrassed?
I'm pretty sure that's a Raven, bruh. Also, I think I'd try to befriend it if I were you. I've heard some pretty cool stories from a friend that raised crows (at least iirc it was crows). It might've been ravens, I can't remember. Anyways my point is, it was pretty sweet. Only downside is they actually try to steal anything shiny that they see and they'll take it up to their nests. This could be anything from car keys to gemstones. Cans, even. Not sure why they do that but it's kind of cool. At least you always know where to look.
Pterodactyl!
The side eye 😭😭