red-bellied woodpecker. was it injured? (1 Viewer)

Today, while walking through East Village, NYC I found a red-bellied woodpecker on the ground. He was lying on his belly under an overhang and did not seem to be able to move when I approached him. I gave him a tiny nudge and he didn't move then either, he just looked at me.

I spent a good 20 minutes sitting a few inches from him, trying to get a hold of Animal Care on the phone and not once did the bird attempt to move. Instead he just stared at me the whole time. After being advised I would have to bring him to the ACC myself, I tried to scoop him into a box and that's when he fluttered and flew a few feet to the nearest gate. He seemed to not have a ton of strength and struggled to get his footing on the rail. When I tried to help him onto the rail, he flew again to the nearest tree, about 5 feet away. I approached him there to see if he could/would fly further and he stayed put. It was clear he wasn't as injured as I thought (or perhaps not at all?) but i found it so strange that he seemed so comfortable with my proximity and never moved once until I tried to scoop him up and even then not really trying to get away.

I can't shake the feeling that he was injured and I should have tried harder to help him. If a bird can fly, is that enough to assume it's fine? Is this normal behavior from this sort of bird? From the sound of it, was he okay?

Sounds like you did the best you could under the circumstances. My guess would be that it might have hit a window and was a bit dazed. We know it's neck wasn't broken as it would not be alive.

It was really very sweet of you to watch over it and try to do something for it.

BTW, a warm welcome to you from me, a former New Yorker and on behalf of the entire staff here at BirdForum :t:

Yes, it seems quite likely that it was stunned (just as we would be after colliding with an object). As you watched over it you probably protected it from predators that might have taken advantage of the situation. As he regained his senses he was able to evade you. It's hard to know the extent of his injuries, but hopefully sitting in the tree another spell would help him come to his full senses. If he could fly and land then it seems he was probably undamaged. I think you did just the right thing.

I have had numerous birds hit the windows on the house over the years. Most of them behave as you describe and a few have not fared as well with broken necks. You should use caution with any seemingly injured bird or animal as they may be diseased or become violent.

Several years ago while on a walk-a-bout in the Spring I saw an Evening Grosbeak fluttering on the ground. My first thought was to see what its problem was and possibly give it some assistance. Well I guess the bird thought that my advances were less than noble and when I reached down to pick up the poor little thing he grabbed hold of my thumb in his beak and held on with a "vise-grip" grasp that damn near brought tears of pain to my eyes. So be careful if you consider giving aid to wildlife.

phil

Thanks for the feedback and the nice words. It's good to know I most likely didn't leave him in terrible shape. I was very cautious in my approach and didn't touch him with my hands at all. He also didn't seem to think of me as a threat even when I was handling him, so hopefully he didn't suffer any additional stress. And though the poor guy clearly was having a rough day, it was amazing for me to be able to get to be that close to a pretty bird like him for a that long!