While in town during my daughter’s short shift, my older daughter at home was startled by something fairly large hitting an upstairs window.

Of course she checked it out, and this is what she found.

One very stunned Northern Flicker!

She gently prodded it to see if it was okay, and got squawked at.

It seemed to be uninjured, at least.

What a beautiful bird!

When her sister and I got home, she was outside and the three of us ended up staying outside to play with the kittens, who were running all over.

Then one of the kittens pounced on something.

It was the Norther Flicker, now in the grass!

My daughter got it away from the kitten, but then the others came running.

The poor bird wasn’t going to have a chance!

Between the three of us, we managed to hold back the kittens and pick up the bird, who did NOT want to be picked up. It got away a couple of times, only to have the kittens go nuts trying to get at it. Finally, my daughter got a grip on it and tried to move it away while I dashed to the house to get a box.

We never got to use it.

The Northern Flicker got loose again, and kept hopping its way through the grass, out the yard and finally into the pile of branches by the garage.

Unfortunately, that made it more vulnerable to kittens, with no way for us to protect it. It couldn’t even be seen anymore. The kittens, however, saw it go into the branches and were making a run for it!

So, out came the cat treats, and they were all lured into the sun room to be closed up early for the night.

Hopefully, the bird will recover and fly away soon.

The Re-Farmer