When i was walking to work this morning, along the plaza of my building i could see three people standing inside, right next to their full length window. They were looking at the ground. As I walked past, I looked down to see a yellow-bellied sapsucker , a migratory bird that flies through IL on its way back North in the Spring. He had flown into the glass and landed on his back on the concrete. The other three people indicated that they were going to call the local rescue that picks up these poor, smashed birds throughout the city. But none of them were walking outside. They suggested that I turn him over on his belly, as if that would help.

Instead, I picked him up and carried him into my own building a few doors down. There i waited. His poor little body was moving in such a way that i knew he was in pain. I held him in my hand, close to my chest to keep him warm. He was still blinking and had seemed like he had calmed down a bit since i got him off the plaza.

The woman from the bird rescue showed up a few minutes later and i gave him up to her. She put him in a travel bag and went on her way.

He didn't look good when i put him in the bag. He probably won't make it. The injuries sustained when a bird flies into a window are almost always fatal.

Maybe with the right care he will hopefully receive at the bird rescue, he'll be able to make it back up North. Although, as much as it makes me cry, I don't think that is the most likely prospect.

It sucks to know that you did your best and it still wasn't quite enough.