Here is an unexpected find in Chicago for this #wednesdaywalk by
Right outside my office door I find this stunned little guy about the size of a robin.
I had to ask around to figure out he was a Virginia Rail. Migration is now happening and this wetland bird got blown into the mean streets of Chicago.
I grabbed him and moved him to a grassy area to recover. Eventually he did start walking around normally and took off towards the lake.
Thankfully he didn't fly towards the river as Virginia rails are shallow water birds.
The winds are always pretty rough around here and I can sometime barely walk straight as they whip through all these buildings. I can only imagine what a bird has to deal with where wind will whip you into the side of a building.
Each spring and fall I usually find quite a few stunned birds and I try and move them off the streets and sidewalks to recover in a small park area.
Hopefully the birb made it to a nice prairie wetland to find a mate.
The fate of a stunned bird is pretty terrible in Chicago especially at night. Many rats come out of the underground portion of the city and will pick them clean leaving only their bones.
Somehow pigeons have no problems surviving here. And they get plenty to eat when office drones eat here for lunch. As dumb as they look the pigeons have street smarts, though I'm sure in the wetlands they would easily get eaten by many things.
That's all for now, thanks for looking :-)