So what do you do when one of these little guys run into your front window, knocking himself senseless?
You run outside to the rescue!
When our little wild goldfinch ran into our window a couple days ago, we thought it was alright and flew away. But checking outside, he had landed between the house and our garbage cans.
We had to get to him fast because we have outdoor cats that eat birds and mice. I chased them away quickly and moved to the bird.
He was alive, thank goodness, but he had a lot of blood on his beak. I was afraid he had internal bleeding or else he was bleeding from his beak or tongue. I couldn't really do anything for his bleeding but I could give him a safe space to recover.
So I took him inside, careful not to squeeze him or to let him fly. My mom got out a small box and there he stayed for the next two hours or so, sitting in the same spot in the box.
We checked him periodically, making sure he wasn't dead or hurting himself in the box. But he just sat there the whole time, breathing a little hard, probably from fear and pain.
The real excitement came when my mom reached in to take him out, ready to see if he was ready. The little guy burst out in a flurry, bumping into the high ceilings and walls for about ten seconds before falling behind some floor shelves.
I hurried over to him, scared that he would get stuck and suffocate, but found him fine, perched on a moose statue beside the shelves.
So I picked him up, careful to make sure he couldn't fly. He was pretty quiet except for a bite and cheep or two when I first caught him.
It's such a wonderful feeling seeing the little bird take off from your hand and into the trees where it belongs. It may not be totally safe outside but at least now he has a chance to be free and live like the little bird should!
Be safe, little Goldfinch!
(By the way, we didn't take any pictures of the little guy who got hurt because we didn't want to scare him anymore and wanted him to recover in peace.)