Occurred on April 22, 2022 / Moneta, Virginia, USA
Info from Licensor: I was staying in Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia at my in-law's condo. For three days in a row, birds were getting stuck in the stairwell. For the first two days, I was able to open a window on the top floor and encourage the birds to fly out without touching them. The first day was a robin and the second day was a robin plus a male and female house finch. After that, I left the top window open, thinking it would prevent further problems. On the third day, when I heard chirping from inside the condo yet again, I was surprised. I grabbed my phone thinking I'd record the same thing that happened the previous two days, however, this time the male house finch kept trying to fly out of the sealed window like he was too scared to fly across to the open one. I decided that it would be dangerous to let him keep banging into the glass, so I attempted to get him to land on my hand. Eventually, he cornered himself and I was able to gently pick him up and take him up the half flight of stairs to the open window on the upper landing where he finally flew out. I was completely shocked he let me hold him and I could feel his little heart pounding. I tried to speak sweetly to him while approaching and carrying him--I wanted to be as gentle and as quick as possible so he could go about his springtime activities! It wasn't until the ordeal was over that I realized it was Earth Day on top of it all!
Credit: TikTok/@ashlie_elsewhere