Found a sick finch in front of work this AM

[30 Seconds to Bob]

My guess would be some kind of warbler. Looks a lot like the pine warblers we have here as winter residents. Hope it's ok. Bob

[Nanajennie]

30 Seconds to Bob will never know... I hope so too, it was so cute!

[sarehptar]

Based on the photographs, it appears to be a juvenile Common Yellowthroat, probably a young male. While adult males do have a characteristic black mask, juveniles don't, and to me, there appears to be too much white around the eyes in your photo for this to be a standard female. In the last photo you posted, I think you can just see the very beginning of the black mask starting to come in. (Here's a juvenile male photo, not by me, for comparison.)

In any case, definitely seems to be a Common Yellowthroat to me. Like 30 Seconds to Bob suggested, Common Yellowthroats are members of the warbler family, and they're most often found in forested areas near water, but can be found pretty much everywhere there's a mix of trees and grass.

You're definitely right that this bird should have been able to fly, with that solid coat of feathers. However, if the bird was conscious and able to fly from your toss to the ground, hitting the window was probably not the reason it didn't ultimately fly off or at least up in to a tree, etc. It's possible that this bird was ill in other ways which would have made it less likely to avoid the window and more likely not to recover from such an event. But if you didn't see any feathers around the site where you left the bird, it's also definitely possible that it wasn't taken by a predator. Cats, hawks, racoons, etc. all have a tendency to leave "evidence" behind where they pick at their prey a little before carrying it off. If there was no sign of disturbance, it's more likely the bird just recovered enough to fly or hop away.

I definitely applaud your efforts and thoughts and would have done the same myself, but your coworkers are sort of right in their surprise--containing and handling wild birds with the intent of relocating them is typically illegal. That is why most rescues urge you to leave the birds where they are unless they are in imminent danger. Common Yellowthroat are on this protected list. I definitely think it's ridiculous to "protect" birds from life-saving efforts, but seeing as I know a person who was fined just for picking up two loose feathers off the ground, this law isn't just lip service!

(Oh dear. My birdwatching background is showing.)

[Nanajennie]

sarehptar thanks for all that wonderful information! yes, your exposed as to the knowledge you hold!

I only moved the bird because it was on the concrete right in front of the entrance to work.. heavy traffic and easily spotted by the ravens and hawks that frequent my office building.

I can only hope the bird made it, stunned or ill, it had a better chance under the shrubs.

I cannot believe that your friend got fined for picking up feathers! how absurd is that?!?!

Thanks for the confirmation about the type of bird, I figured it was a Common Yellowthroat. didn't know it was a wabler, nor did I know it was on the endangered list... good info

[finchmix22]

Well, hopefully, the juvie warbler got well enough to fly away! I have to wonder who would ticket a person for picking up feathers of a bird? Even an endangered one, if they dropped them, you're not hurting the species? Right?

[sarehptar]

Common Yellowthroat aren't endangered, but definitely protected. If you ever get a chance, since you have them in your area, you should wait around for a bit and watch for them. They have surprisingly deep, raspy voices when adults and they go "wick-wick-wick-wick!" You can't miss them once you hear the noise. They're crazy fast and experts at popping up from the TINIEST little gaps in shrubs.

Ha ha, I absolutely agree, and I definitely would have moved the bird too. I think it's ridiculous the extent to which the law can be pursued, but at the same time, that law is pretty much solely responsible for saving some of America's most iconic birds, like the Snowy and Great Egrets...

The reason the feather issue is so well-covered and touchy with the law is because the law was originally designed to stop the MASSIVE feather trade that had developed by the turn of the 20th century. Around the 1900s, feather trimmed shawls, dresses, and especially hats trimmed with breeding plumage were so popular that birds were being captured by the thousands and killed for their feathers. In order to put a decisive end to the wild bird feather trade, the law made it uniformly illegal to take, pick up, possess, give away, or essentially do anything to wild birds' feathers. (Also the birds themselves, of course.) Even after the trade died down (all the feathers you can buy today in stores are from livestock/game birds), the law was left in place to prevent its return. So we're still operating under a somewhat draconian law that doesn't distinguish between gathering feathers for sale and gathering them just for fun.

The law really isn't actively pursued by most law enforcement agencies anymore though, so if you don't go around scooping up feathers in front of say... angry park rangers or something, you'll probably be fine. My friend made the mistake of picking up cardinal feathers in nature preserve in Indiana and wearing them in her hair.