On Tue, 17 Aug 2004 16:38:27 GMT, "Crashj"
wrote:

"Karen" wrote in message
...
In article , Daniel Phillips
writes:

it finally happened: a bird, either a robin or mourning dove,
drowned in there

I know the feeling, I've pull 3 dead sparrows out of my pond this summer
and I
have 3 bird baths.

You can lead a bird to water, but you can't make him not sink.
If anyone watches CSI you should know that the apparent cause of death may
not be the real issue. They may have been sick when they came to drink and,
errm, croaked, in your pond.
If you have West Nile in your area check with the local health authorities
and see if they want the bird bodies. Take standard precautions when
handling the little corpses. You can put your hand inside a shopping bag,
pick up the dead bird, and pull the bag over your hand to wrap it in the bag
without touching it.

Thank goodness I don't see mosquito larvae and whatnot in there! The
two fish must be taking care of mosquitoes, but even go so far as to
eat my mosquito dunks (with no ill affect, apparently). I put in a
dunk, and three days later it's scattered all over water surface.
Early this year, while the fish were still moping, the dunk stayed
afloat!

Thanks for the suggestions. No, I just put the bird in the trash can.
I used a paper towel to pick it up, unfortunately, but naturally kept
my hands away from ears/eyes/mouth until I gave them a good cleaning
afterwards. Next time, and I hope there won't be one in the immediate
future, I myself will use a plastic bag and follow your suggestion
about calling the health dept.

Daniel Phillips

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