Yesterday around 5:30 a.m. I was outside enjoying the morning bird symphony when a loud thunder clap and lightening flash startled me and suddenly silenced the chorus. Moments later this little guy startled me when I saw him sitting very still at the edge of our garden a few feet from the picture window in our den. I think it's a hermit thrush, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
I got down close and could see the poor little thing was in distress. His right eye was closed and his right leg seemed to be semi-paralyzed. I picked him up to see if his leg might be broken. It wasn't, but it was weak. He was kind of floppy on his right side and couldn't perch on my finger. I wasn't sure what was wrong, didn't want to intervene too much, at least not at first, but didn't want to leave him in distress, defenseless, unable to fly, and soaked to the bone in the impending thunderstorm. So I grabbed a gallon nursery pot, turned it on its side, put a little mulch and some leaves in it, and gently put the little thrush into his makeshift shelter where he stayed, waited out the brief cloudburst, and recovered.
Before I left for the nursery, I went back outside to check on him. The sound of the storm door startled him. Thankfully he'd recovered from what I later realized was a tough encounter with the den window, and off he flew from his storm shelter into the mulberry tree way back in the corner of our yard, where he landed and perched effortlessly. Later, after work I showed my husband the pictures and told him what had happened. He confirmed my theory that the little thrush had flown into the picture window. He'd seen the evidence earlier in the day as he was enjoying his mini-vacation from the daily grind:
I just love a happy ending. I'm so glad this little guy was able to take off, and I hope he'll fare well following his painful encounter with our window.
