And the hits just keep on comin' -- literally, I'm afraid. On my way to work in Philly late Sunday afternoon, I found the carcasses of seven birds who'd slammed into the plate glass windows on the north side of the Wachovia headquarters near Independence Hall. There's a pocket park between the building and Old Christ Church Cemetery, both of which make for good birding during migration. The cruel joke is that a fair number of birds never make it out of the migrant trap. (Several Octobers ago, I went out to get a look at the lunar eclipse, and found a dead woodcock there. That one really hurt.)
Here's what I found Sunday:
4 Ovenbirds
1 Common Yellowthroat
1 White-throated Sparrow
1 Swamp Sparrow
They're bagged and labeled in my freezer, cheek by beak with the ice cream and Niman Ranch bacon, awaiting delivery to the Academy of Natural Sciences. It's a good bet they'll have company before migration's over.
