Rescuing stunned/injured migrating birds

The other day, I was out getting my lunch in downtown Chicago and I saw a stunned bird on the sidewalk. I had seen many dead birds over the years that had hit buildings. So I had researched what to do if I found one still alive, but stunned. In fact, I have a bird rescue kit (paper bag, paper towel, and glove in a ziplock bag) in my backpack, but didn’t have my backpack when going out for lunch. But I knew what to do.

It’s important to rescue a migrating bird if you see it stunned. A stunned bird unattended is a dead bird. People will accidentally trample and kick them, and hawks, rats and other animals that notice will eat them. A stunned bird often does not get the chance to recover. That is why in many cities, there are groups that rescue these birds, help them recover, and then release them. In Chicago, it’s Chicago Bird Collision Monitors.

What to do

I scooped it up in my hand and went to the Freshii where I was getting lunch. I requested an extra bag for my new bird friend. After receiving some quizzical looks and then a bag. After putting 2 napkins in the bottom, I added the bird. Making sure the napkins were flat on the bottom, I put the bird on top. This is so the bird’s feet could grip it and not slide around. I guess you really don’t need to have a bird rescue kit in Chicago as it’s pretty easy to get a small paper bag from a shop when you show them what it’s for.

I folded the bag top over twice and took the bird and my lunch back to the office. At the office, I paper clipped the bag shut and put the bird in the darkest quietest place I had, my cabinet.

Now the thing with putting a stunned bird in your cabinet is that it’s totally silent, and you forget it’s there. Until, as I found out, it regains some of its senses. When it realizes it’s trapped, it starts to flutter around in the bag with a creepy wings-on-paper sound that would be great for any horror movie. This scares the person sitting there, aka me, who is not used to their cabinet making creepy sounds. And then silence, just long enough to forget about it again, just to be startled again by desperate flutters. But at least I knew it was feeling better.

The result

The litte cutie-pie was picked up after a few hours in my cabinet. I checked back and found it was released the next day. Having been checked out, fed/watered, and resting overnight it was sent on its way to continue its migration.