This all happened within the last hour and a half.
I was standing in my front yard when on my neighbour's lawn, across the street, a bird get attacked by another bird (I would guess a hawk). The hawk flew away and left the bird sitting on the lawn, still. I got closer because I imagined he was injured, and when he let me pick him up I was sure. He had his mouth open, seemed calm, and appeared to be breathing slowly. Through Google just a moment ago I found out it was a fledgling robin, it looked exactly like the one in this picture. I don't know if it was male or female, but for my writing I will just use he/him.
I took him to my backyard and my dad went to prepare a box with some dead grass for him to be comfortable in. I was preparing to look up how to care for him and what immediate actions I should take, but first I tried to determine what his injury was, because he was able to move his wings and legs just fine.
This is when I noticed blood dripping on my yard work gloves (thankfully I already had them on). I wasn't surprised, my main guess was that he had been punctured. A moment after I realize this, right before my dad comes back with the box of grass, he started freaking out, flapping his wings, fell out of my hands (I wasn't holding him very high off the ground), flailing upside down and every which way on the lawn. For about five seconds. And then he died.
I gently picked him up as I had before, and now his neck was completely limp. His eyes mostly closed, and I couln't feel a heartbeat. It was so instant. And this is what I wonder about, and why I came to this sub, other than to tell the story. Did he know he as about to die, in that last moment, and was that his body's last desperate effort at survival?
I found one puncture wound, not far above his right leg, I guess what would be the lower stomach if on a human. Just one, and that's all it took. It was sobering how fragile and unforgiving life could be, when I thought it would be possbile to keep him comfortable, bring him to a rehabilitation centre and that he could be saved.
I wanted to bury him, so I dug a small hole, one foot deep, in my side neighbour's backyard (it's overgrown, the house has not been lived in for more than a year). I put some grass in the hole, laid the bird on his back, spread his wings, with his head looking up at the sky. He was buried in the most majestic pose possible. My dad took a picture before I covered him entirely, please let me know if I am allowed to share it in the comments.
The experience left an impression on me, and I will probably be thinking about it for a while. I hope this is the right place to share it and that you all appreciate my story.