A woodpecker in distress

My Mondays are usually busy and almost always long as after the regular work I have 3 hours (net) of French course so when I finally get home I'm pretty exhausted. Our offices are in the city centre but I do try to get some fresh air during the lunch break and seek every opportunity to take a walk in the nearby park or along the river. Ljubljana may be the capital but it is still a small city on a global scale and has a lot of green surfaces.

It is an overcast day and the cloud cover presses low, not allowing any sunlight to penetrate the thick layer of dreary greyness so common here in the late autumn and winter. However, it is not cold and I decide to take my round down to the river, across one of the bridges to the other bank and back across another bridge. Almost back to the office building I suddenly hear a thud and see a few passers-by gather around something. As I approach, I spot a bird - a woodpecker! - lying there on the ground motionless, only its eyelids flickering. The poor thing must have mistaken the reflections of the trees in the glassy facade of an edifice for the real thing and hit the wall with some force. Most of the folks have lost interest and went on with their business but a few women remained,discussing what to do with the poor bird. Meanwhile, its feet kick the air a couple of times like in a spasm but otherwise it remains motionless save for the eyelids. There are no traces of blood, though. We know we can't just let it lie there as it could get trampled over or killed by a passing feral cat but unaware of its injuries we are hesitant to lift it from the ground. Finally one of the women remembers she can call a vet and take it there, somebody produces a shawl in which the bird gets wrapped and carefully carried away.

I don't know how the story ended and am unlikely to ever find out but I hope the bird has made it and will stay away from the city and its perils in the future.