Concussed

Despite our best efforts, we still get the occasional bird flying into a window of the house and hurting itself. It happened most often in late Spring when there were lots of juvenile birds about and the daylight was often bright.

I was sitting reading the paper in the kitchen this morning when there was the distinctive thump of bird and window colliding. It was particularly loud and I expected to see the body of a little birdie on the ground. Instead, a male Chaffinch was sitting on the windowsill swaying about like a drunk on a Saturday night. I went out and picked it up and it didn't even flinch. Its mouth was wide open and it was clearly concussed.

I took it inside and gave it a couple of drops of water which it was happy to swallow. However, it may no attempt to move so I picked up the wee compact with my free hand and took a few macro shots of its head protruding from my hand. I was amazed by the detail in its feathers, particularly around the eyes, where they looked like little tufts of carpet.

I had only just put the camera down when it suddenly came to life struggling to get out of my hand and making lots of loud chirping noises. It was as if someone had switched a light on and made it feel better. Straight to the back door and no sooner had I opened my hand when it flew off into a nearby tree. I was glad it had survived.

A short time later I looked out and saw it sitting on the grass below the feeder. It was taking its time to feed, possibly because it still had a sore jaw!