We were out doing chores this morning when I heard Ken say to Lydia, our barn cat, "what have you got?" It was a small bird and Ken said "no birds!" and distracted Lydia and the bird flew away. However, it only made it as far as our white pine tree, and it fluttered from branch to branch until it was just over my head. It didn't look too steady, as it appeared to be bleeding and couldn't seem to sit up very well. I tried to pull the branch down and catch it but it fluttered to another branch lower down and then the cat jumped again and the bird ended up on the ground under Lydia's paw. I grabbed the bird and took it inside and put it into a small animal carrier with some wood shavings - one of those clear plastic boxes with the snap-on lid.

I put it in the bathroom where it was warmest and left it alone. It was bleeding from it's head somewhere, and I figured it would either be dead by the time we got home from work, or better.

It was better.

We opened the bathroom door and the previously catatonic bird started jumping up and down and running around the cage in panic so I covered it with a hand towel so it would stop freaking out. We put some seed and water in so hopefully it will take advantage of those, and tomorrow morning we can let it go if it seems normal. It only lost a very small amount of blood, even for a bird with very little blood to begin with so we hope it will be OK.

And Lydia got booted into the barn this morning and was told to go find rats and leave the birds alone!