Gutted

[Axeman]

I heard a loud bang at window just now so I rushed to front porch with hope of helping whatever poor bird hit the window. I found a young woodpecker (didn't take too close a look but seems like a yellow bellied sapsucker) but the horrifying thing was it was gasping....blood pouring from it's mouth....obviously beyond help but the thought of it suffering like that was distressing. I mean the sound it was making was absolutely horrible.

I don't know...I'm just venting...wishing there was a humane way to end the suffering that obviously went on for a few minutes. Actually would love a way to stop birds from hitting windows....

[Reuven_M]

To humanely kill birds: grab the head and body and quickly pull them away from each other. A bit gruesome, but kills them instantly.
To stop them hitting windows: there are a number of things you can buy to make windows more visible, such as the black bird silhouettes.

[Ron Luft]

Birds fly into windows because they reflect back and the birds have no perspective of depth perception. "FLAP" is an organization devouted to this issue and Rueven is correct that adding any dark shape as in a 'label' to the outside surface would help them with the perception. Birds didn't fly into windows in mass numbers as now when all the windows were multy paned rather than 8 X 10' sheets of glass.