There I was, minding my own business...
I was trying to clean house, running back and forth through the place with laundry, gathering dishes, hanging up the jackets I'd left draped on every surface. I heard a little tapping on the front window, and I looked up in time to see Athena scurry toward the corner, by the giant ficus tree. Her body was low; her ears were down. Something was very intriguing to her. Through the branches of the ficus, I saw there was a black bird on the brick ledge in the corner of the front porch. He or she was tapping her bill on the vinyl window frame, and seeming to make eye contact with Athena, without fear. I slowly walked up, speaking softly (the other window was open, and I figured the bird could hear me). I said hello, and said would she stick around if I went and got a camera off the charger. I did, and I snapped a couple pictures of her and Athena sizing each other up through the window. She seemed a little unsteady, and tucked down into herself like she had needs she couldn't fully express. I spoke through the window and asked if she wanted sparkly toys. I had two of those bead segments left next to my chair, and I offered to bring them outside. I gently opened the door, and set them on the brick, a few feet away from her. I didn't want to startle her, and I didn't want to be screaming and ducking if she felt so threatened that she flew up and tried to peck me. She didn't hop over to pick up the beads, so I watched her for a minute to see whether I could interpret better what it was she wanted or needed.
I wondered whether she had just overheated, and was she hanging out in the shade of my porch to cool off? I suggested I'd get her some water, and I found a metal loaf pan to put it in, one that I thought she could jump on without damaging. I brought it back, and set it on the folding chair closest to her. She ruffled her feathers a little when I did it, but she didn't try to fly away. Neither did she hop down to drink anything. I moved on to my next plan. I sat on the porch and watched her while I waited for the Mr to come home. My reasoning was twofold. First, I wanted to prevent him from coming around the corning and startling the bird. I was afraid someone would get hurt if that happened, and I couldn't say who it might be. Second, I told the bird that he was really good about helping animals in need. I promised her that he would be better and more actively helpful than I.
When he finally came up and saw her, he jumped in exactly as I expected him to. He approached her, and reached out his hand. She was nervous, but she let him touch her. He quickly suggested that she had flown into the window and stunned herself. He nudged her until she stepped onto his hand, and he picked her up. She moved her wings a little, but didn't actually try to fly away. It was several minutes before we were satisfied that she had not broken one or both of her wings.
She seemed to spend a long time unstable and loopy. If she did fly into the window, it must have been a hard hit. We tried all sorts of things to convince her to set out on her own, once she had accepted that the human touching her was kind of a good thing. He walked into the yard, and held her out from his body, offering her the opportunity to fly away over and over. He tried to put her in a tree, but it seemed to crowd her and she kept getting her wings caught. So we found a broomstick and ran it through the tree in such a way to provide more perching space for her. She stayed in one spot the whole time we visited with the neighbor, pulled weeds, watered flowers, and changed the wiper blades on my car and refilled the washer fluid. She just watched us do stuff, and made both of us feel guilty that we weren't still actively helping. We set up the giant dog cage, and put the broomstick in it, so that she had a place in the garage, away from leaves and wind, to hang out and wait for the effects of her concussion to wear off. The Mr offered her worms freshly dug out of the compost heap, but she didn't seem to like them as much as the wet cat food kibbles we had provided. After an hour in the cage, she started flitting around, seeming agitated. Mr S-P transferred her to the chokecherry tree in the back yard, where she was at full dark, seemingly sleeping. I haven't checked on her since. I hope she regains her full senses by morning, and remembers how to bird. I can't see us being able to keep her happy if she were to stay on as a permanent pet. She's welcome to live here as long as she wants, as long as "here" means outside in the Park, not inside the house.
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