Don't do anything immediately. Watch it from afar and monitor its behavior. It can take a few minutes before the bird recovers. If you don't see any reaction after five minutes, please contact us. Approaching the bird and handling it inappropriately can cause it to become more stressed or injure itself further.
If bird is not flying away and appears very stunned, please place into a paper bag or box(if available) and escort to the UIUC Wildlife Clinic Immediately so it can be properly treated.
Please contact us with the location of the bird(s) and a volunteer will go pick it up and assess the situation.
You MUST be comfortable handling dead birds and inspect the perimeter of buildings. If you are unable to meet these requirements but are still interested in volunteering, please reach out! We will match you with a team member that will assist you on your shift.
All volunteers must also attend a Practice Route Walk with a project lead before doing individual walks. Please sign up here (practice walks begin again Spring 2025) If you missed the practice walk, please email saraj7@illinois.edu to set up a time to walk with a Leader before the start of the season or during the season to be trained on proper survey protocols.
Window strike specimens are kept at low temperatures in a freezer to ensure preservation until a member of our team can confirm their presence. Once confirmed, and double-checked in our data, specimens are moved to another location to be prepared as study skins. These skins will then be contributed to the University of Illinois teaching collection, used by students and researchers alike!