John Idzikowski wrote to the Wisconsin Birding Network...
"While walking the usual 500 yard path at Milwaukee's North Point-Lake Park lakeshore in mid- October, during the peak of Kinglet migration, I found 2 Golden-crowneds caught in burdock seed heads, still alive. One was easy to extricate, the other was so badly fastened that I had to very carefully, slowly manipulate and gently pull the heads off of the bird's face. Had I not had experience with handling and removing Kinglets from mist nets I might have killed this bird. The 3rd bird I found is pictured below. In retrospect, I realize that a small group of hikers with clippers could have cut all of the Burdock along this entire 500 yard path in about 15 minutes. This plant must kill thousands of Kinglets and other small birds each year. Please feel free to use this digital and page in any way to increase awareness of this weed. A larger sized, raw image is available on request, more suitable for publication. "
Link: A very sad photograph of a Golden-crowned Kinglet
