Female northern flicker running into a migration obstacle

[Dr. John]

We were walking downtown, near Yonge and King, when we spotted a flicker huddled on the ground in the doorway of a tall building.  While awake, it didn't fly away on our approach and we assumed it was injured from a building strike as it was migrating.  We scooped it up with some cloth and kept it in a box at home overnight until we could contact the Toronto Wildlife Centre.  However when I checked on it this morning, it promptly flew away to a nearby tree and seemed to be doing OK.  Hope it can continue its migration successfully.

[Shortsighted]

Let's say a flicker-of-hope. I guess that it was just stunned. Northern flickers often find old architecture rather stunning. I find your compassion admirable, especially in the threat of bird flu, and the flicker will likely remember your tenderness because birds have such an astonishing memory owing to their different neurological architecture, not quite like mammals, a fact which is also stunning.