It is often posted on forums and regulary spoken about when birds having a 'night fright' or flying into windows and other objects about the home. However there is little evidence to support this.

 

The avian neck is a highly mobile peice of equipment and a dead bird nearly always presnts with a floppy neck. This is quite normal.

 

I done some digging around and came across some research to share with you good folks. There are some pics in this article shows birds with skulls exposed so if you are squeemish the pics are at the end of the article.

 

Please enjoy.

Edited March 22, 201114 yr by RIPbudgies

where is the link rip ???

How stupid was that? Forgetting the link. See what happens when you quickly post something just before flying out the door.

 

http://www.birdscreen.com/PDF/Klem_AFO_Injuries1990.pdf

well okay but i have to say this

most my birds are when found freshly deceased

most their heads are floppy but not just flopping

the bird i found dead the cock i found died from something i say old age or a bout of e coli or so he had been not looking good that day had runny bum

i cleaned it he seemed better picked up so i left him in flight only to find dead in morning

the hen i found next day she had been their longer than the cock bird dead she was stiff and her head dropped flopped and was defenantly not normal of a dead birds normal floppy dropped head

so

i still think she had broken her head

my flight they pick up good speed

and the new window is a big hazard till they are accustomed to it being opened and closed

i say broken neck no matter what this guy says but i do agree most birds die from the shock and head injerys

I tend to agree with this RIP, I have seen 2 budgies on different occasions smash into glass windows in a certain large pet shop. They flew from the back to the front smashing into the glass. The shop is huge so that had a good speed going, they smashed and landed on the floor then got up and flew again but I think they were dazed, they probably died later on from shock or bleeding into the brain as they differently didn't break their necks.

Cause I am short of time at the minute I have found a piece from an article on avian anatomy. Also a link to an article on Glass as a hazard for birds. The pics of the windows are so real that it is impossible for a bird not to think that they are flying into a nature scene.

 

http://labanimals.awionline.org/pubs/Quarterly/04_53_4/534p4_5.htm

 

"Since the neck forms an "S" curve, it protrudes forward in the front, above the level of the crop. Often, this may be mistaken for a tumor or abnormality in the neck, especially when the crop is empty and the bird is sitting comfortably. Because the neck has more vertebrae than a human's and mammal's, the avian neck is extremely flexible, mobile and strong. We've all seen how easily a owl can turn its head so much farther around than we can. When a bird is comfortably restrained by an avian vet, the head and/or neck is held. The neck is considered one of the strongest parts of a bird's body, and it is almost impossible to injure a bird by holding it by the neck (as long as the windpipe is not closed off), let alone break its neck, when it is properly restrained. Often, people think, when they pick up a limp, dead bird, that it must have broken its neck, because the neck is so limber. It rarely is the cause of death. Birds that fly into a window or other solid structure may die, often of a concussion or other trauma, but in all my years of practice, I have only seen two birds with fractures of the cervical vertebrae."

 

Reference: 2006 Margaret A. Wissman, D.V.M., D.A.B.V.P.

well okay so maybe no broken necks but still dead birds :{