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Northern flickers can be chatty birds, but the one Janelle Stephenson holds in her hands doesn’t make a sound.

In fact, it doesn’t struggle at all.

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She’s already looked the bird over and determined it’s female. She’s weighed it too, at 118.9 grams.

The bird was found on a patio, put in a cardboard box and brought that morning to the Wildlife Rescue Association (WRA) in Burnaby where Stephenson is the hospital manager. As part of her assessment, Stephenson blows into the dark grey feathers to separate them so she can see its left ear. There’s a bit of dried blood, a sign of trauma.

A few minutes later, she makes her diagnosis. The bird has a broken right clavicle.

“I suspect she hit a window,” Stephenson says.

Treatment includes wrapping the bird to immobilize the wing plus medication to reduce the inflammation and pain. Since there’s also central nervous system damage, the bird will likely be in hospital longer than the five days it will take to heal the fracture.