So, it's Saturday morning, and Cora and I are in the kitchen when we heard a loud "BOING" from the dining room window.
"Was that a bird?" she asked.
As a refresher, we live on the 3rd floor. The window in question has an unobstructed western view, but we usually keep the blinds closed to avoid the afternoon sun blinding us.
We both knew the answer was "yes", but with the blind closed, that would mean that effectively the bird flew into the middle of a wall.
What the hell?
So, we raise the blinds, just to make sure that the window is okay, and that there isn't a big bird sized smear on the glass. And to make sure that there aren't kids on the rood next door, throwing balls at the side of the building of something.
Nope all clear.
20 minutes later, I can't take it any more, and run down and check the breezeway. And there, right below our window, crumpled up in the middle of the breezeway, is the corpse of a little tiny brown bird.
Poor birdy.
I know I should get a shovel and pitch the poor thing into a trash can or into the gutter or something sensitive like that, but I just can't. Not yet. So I went back upstairs and reported my findings to the wife and daughter.
Another 20 minutes passes, and I man up, head to the garage, and get a shovel. Time to take care of some business.
So, I head back out to the breezeway, and …
Wait…
The bird is up against the wall…
And did the that feather just move or was that that wind?
I crept closer and IT TWITCHED! I could see it breathing!
OhmyGodOymyGodOhmyGod!
So, I call Cora and tell her, IT'S...NOT...DEAD!
She advised me to go to the other breezeway, get the big brick that is there, and ***SMASH*** is to put it out of its misery. While that seemed like the humane thing to do, I just couldn't bring myself to hurt it, even though it was suffering. The shovel went back to the garage, and the poor bird was just left in the breezeway to traumatize the small children in the building.
Another hour passes, and we are going to take The Daughter to get her hair colored before she goes off to college, and we take another peek:
The bird is now sitting up, and rocking back and forth. Less and less dead all the time.
So, after we run the errands, we check on the bird's status one more time, and it's gone.
GONE
So, one of the following happened:
- The bird expired while we were gone, and one of the neighbors disposed of it.
- The JESUS BIRD came back to life and flew off.
We strongly suspect the latter: That the bird hit the window with enough force to knock itself out, and then was stunned and concussed. Finally, it came to, and flew away. Hopefully wiser for the experience.
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And, 'Yes', I'm really glad that I didn't re-enact the whole meteor vs. dinosaur thing like my wife (and under the bus you go ) encouraged me to do earlier.