It’s time to look back on 2024! Check our blog between Christmas and New Year’s for a variety of stories and memories of 2024 from the staff and volunteers of the Wildlife Center of Virginia.
Bird migration is a special time at the Wildlife Center, as it's the only time of year when certain avian species visit our area. Many species that don't reside long-term in Virginia pass through on their way to breeding or wintering grounds. During this period, the Center admits many migrating birds that have been injured in incidents such as window collisions, cat attacks, and more.
On October 3rd, right smack in the middle of fall migration, I took a call from an individual who reported hundreds of deceased birds at their daughter’s high school. I directed the person to call the Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR), the state organization that can investigate wildlife concerns such as this one. While it was certainly more of an unusual call, I didn’t think much of it at the time. Little did I know that that call was just the beginning of my most memorable work day of the year!
Shortly later, I took a call about a bird that had struck a window. Almost as soon as I hung up the phone, Jonah, my co-worker at the front desk, received a separate call with an extremely similar situation. As the day continued, Jonah and I found ourselves repeating the same phone call over and over again – all across the state, individuals were finding injured birds that had collided with windows.
Later that day, DWR reached out to us regarding an injured songbird they had discovered while investigating the mass die-off at the local high school (the call I had taken earlier!). When they arrived to bring the bird into care, I learned more about what they had seen. They had discovered, horrifyingly, at least a hundred deceased migratory songbirds - species from American Redstarts and Black-throated Blue Warblers to Northern Parulas, Swainson’s Thrushes, and more. It was a devastating event. To make matters worse, the DWR employees told me that after dropping off this bird they were heading to investigate other similar reports.
As the situation developed, it became evident that the previous night had been a very poor night for migratory birds in Virginia. It had been an exceptionally high migration night (the highest thus far) and took place shortly after a few strong weather events, including Hurricane Helene. While we still don’t know, even now, what exactly occurred, DWR and our vets believe that a combination of weather events and a high volume of birds passing through created a “perfect storm” for migratory songbirds. Some nights are higher “migration nights” than others - on a low migration night, a couple of thousand birds may pass over Augusta County (the county surrounding WCV), but on a high migration night, this number can climb into the millions. On the night of October 2nd, more than 6 million birds flew over Augusta County.
As a bird enthusiast, this day was exciting, devastating, and rewarding. We received so many incredible birds, and it was a puzzle to identify them (fall warblers are hard!) and figure out what was going on as the events unfolded. I especially loved speculating and nerding out over the birds with my fellow bird enthusiast at the Center, Dr. Olivia. On the other hand, it was a heartbreaking day as we witnessed firsthand the negative impact human-caused climate change and anthropogenetic activity have on birds (and all wildlife). However, it was exceptionally rewarding to play a part, no matter how small, in mitigating some of these effects and to work with my co-workers to rescue the birds that did survive. I felt grateful for the Center in a new, profound way that I will keep with me into the new year.
— Paige Pettry, Front Desk Coordinator