Today Deb was alerted by her cat Jasper to an emergency just outside her door. A baby bird had fallen out of its nest. Deb had noticed that the mom bird had been absent the previous day but now one of the babies was on the ground. Deb couldn't put him in the nest (it was too high up) so she tried to move him off the sidewalk. She went in to find something to pick him up with but he disappeared by the time she got back. She had to go to school and she called me worried about the poor little guy. I told her there wasn't much she could do if mom was gone and the bird couldn't fly yet.
She persisted and called a local wildlife organization to see if they would go rescue the babies.
They said they couldn't do that but she could bring the bird to them if it was still living. When she got home she found the little bird in the bushes; by then he'd been there 5 hours. She got him out and tried to get the nest as well but couldn't reach it. There didn't seem to be any activity in the nest and so most likely the babies were just too young to survive without mom. Or some predators got them.
Deb got back in her car and drove the dying bird to the wildlife group; a round trip of about 20 miles. They put him in an incubator and will try to save him but don't offer much hope. I think it was pretty sweet of Deb to try and rescue the little bird. It reminded me a lot of her gramma who used to bring home baby birds found on the tarmack at the LAX. Mom worked there for many years and every so often she would bring home some lost baby bird and feed it from an eye dropper. The birds always died but Mom was always hopeful and would bring home every one found.
Two kind, gentle women in my life.
2 comments:
Our mother brought home baby birds? How often did this happen? Did I never see it or have I blocked it from my mind because of some traumatic bird related incidenT?
Not every day mind you but several times over the years when she worked for United. She'd put them in a shoebox with a rag and try to feed them diluted egg yolk with an eye dropper. They always died. Sad little birds. You were probably just busy vandalizing the neighborhood with that Fox kid.
Post a Comment