Thunk
I was having tea with my mother today, when something scared the bejabbers
out of us when it hit the window next to us. My first instinct was that it a
snowball, as my brother frequently throws them at the windows to scare
people. But the snow is gone. So it must have been a tennis ball. But who
threw it? Was it actually a bird?
I went outside, and indeed, there was a woodpecker, motionless, on the ground under the window. Actually, it was breathing. When I approached it, its eyes were blinking. It was stunned, but otherwise fine. He had only managed to break the top of his beak off.
Still, the bird lay motionless. So, we picked him up and held him for a while. Eventually, we placed the woodpecker on a branch in the back yard. He sat there for about an hour, then went on his way.
This is the sort of thing that I didn't think actually happens in real life. Hopefully the little guy is alright. Either way, it made for some fine bird photography without the expenditure of a big lens!