CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Monday afternoon I was at my computer, which faces a window. I caught a flash out of the corner of my eye and looked up just in time to see a small bird slam into a window pane with a resounding, “Thunk!”
I stepped out on the porch and there, flat of its back, lay a tiny downy woodpecker, clearly not long out of the nest. I could tell she (or he) was alive but was seriously down for the count, unable to even stand up in my hand.
As a wildlife professional, I have preached for years that the best thing anyone can do for injured wildlife is to leave it in the wild. They generally stand a far better chance surviving on their own than they do under human care. In many cases, if the trauma of the injury doesn’t kill them, the stress of being handled or transported by human hands will.
by Richard Simms
THE OUTDOOR FEED 