It's a Bird

We recently had a microburst in our area, and as I was raking up branches, leaves, and other debris (like those green ball things that fall off one of our trees.  What are those stupid things?), I nearly scooped this little guy right up!  He wasn't moving at all until I screamed in shock after nearly jabbing him with my rake.  Successful camouflage, little birdie.

Even after my startling discovery, he continued sitting there. He moved his head from side to side but nothing else. I stared for a good moment to allow myself to scare him enough to flutter away and/or to see if he was hurt. Didn't seem to be hurt, although paralysis was still a possible diagnosis.

So I did the next best thing to saving an injured animal. I went inside and got my camera. I came back outside and (somewhat to my surprise) he was still there. Silent and still but not dead. Apparently not injured either because he was gone a few hours later.

I decided he must have been in a state of shock after plummeting to the ground with one of the many branches scattered in our yard. Let's hope he got up and found his family or at least let out a little tweet so his family could find him. 

Sure it's sort of sweet and sad, but overall, it's creepy. Those black eyes and pointed little beak--it's a good thing he wasn't hurt. I can't guarantee I would have done anything about it.