We saved a Downy Woodpecker

I wish I had photos to accompany this post, but I didn't take any.

On Sunday morning, I looked out in our front yard and saw a crumpled heap on the sidewalk.  I alerted Nathan and asked him what it was.  He said it was a Downy Woodpecker and headed outside to see if it was dead.

image from allaboutbirds.org

As it turned out, she was alive, but hurt.  She had her head tucked under her wing.  Nathan brought her to the door and we tried to decide what to do.  I tried to give her some water, but we didn't have a dropper.  Nathan decided to take the woodpecker back outside and put her on a tree.  He did that, but we just didn't feel good about having that woodpecker on the tree available for predators and it was becoming apparent that the bird couldn't fly.  It was beginning to look like an injury that needed to heal, rather than a stunned bird that just needed to sit for a while and recover.

We decided to bring the woodpecker inside and put her in our sparrow trap with food and water.  I had Nathan look on the internet to find out how to help a broken wing.  Of course, we knew that having a woodpecker inside our house was illegal.  We found information on how to bind a wing and learned that it could take 2-3 weeks for it to heal, but we also went to a link that specifically talked about woodpeckers.  The site mentioned finding someone who could rehabilitate the bird.  Since I couldn't figure out how to bind one wing to the body while leaving the other free, I called the Howell Nature Center because I was aware that they rehabilitate.

The Nature Center transferred me to the Infirmary and the lady there said they'd be happy to take the bird and gave me directions.  We were able to drop the bird off, along with our donations.  While they processed the bird, we walked around to see the wildlife they have (kind-of like a MI wildlife zoo).  These animals are either injured or are bonded to humans and can't be set free in the wild.  On the way out, we checked in on the Downy.  Turns out she had a shoulder injury.  I'm sure glad we didn't try to treat a broken wing!

They will call us when the bird is ready to be released because they bring her right back here to release her in our yard!

This is the second Downy that I've helped rescue.  The first banged into a window and I simply put him in a safe place until the "stun" wore off.  This one was much more serious, but Nathan said, "I'm sure glad we found the bird before a cat did!"  I second that!