For the past few months, we’d hear and feel loud thuds several times a week, and sometimes several times a day, almost as if kids had been hurling snowballs into the side of our house. But, no, it hasn’t been the neighbors—it’s been birds of all sizes and kinds crashing into our windows.

Sometimes, they bounce off and continue on without ever interrupting their flights. Other times, they fall to the ground dazed, only to wander off once they recover from their concussions. Once, a bird hit with such force that it died instantly.

This afternoon, we heard the loudest thud ever, and ran to the kitchen window to discover this poor guy, unmoving on our back deck.

One of the many Pileated Woodpeckers we’ve enjoyed watching as they’ve hammered away at our trees was down. We usually only see one at a time, but often we’ve seen them in pairs. Once, we even saw three working on the same tree.

They’re large, beautiful birds, and I’d never been this close to one before. As we looked at it from the kitchen, it was no more than a yard away. Considering its size, we’re lucky that it bounced off the glass instead of crashing through the window and ending up inside on our floor.

I couldn’t tell whether it was alive or dead.

After a minute or so, it began to twitch, and then began looking around groggily, as you can see. I didn’t step outside, for fear of frightening it, or if was too discombobulated, of having it attack me.

It sat up, and then staggered around in circles for several minutes, as we tried to figure out whether it had broken a wing, and if so, what we needed to do. Should we call Animal Control? Or if worse came to worse, and it keeled over and died—did we know a decent recipe worthy of being adapted to Pileated Woodpecker?

Luckily, we ended up not having to make either of those choices. After a few more dazed minutes, it suddenly looked to the sky and burst into the air. It flew around 100 feet, and then vanished into treetops.

For now, even though I know I might find it dead out back in the woods later, I’m going to act as if it survived.