Friday, June 5, 2009

Bird Brains

So, remember that mama bird that made her nest in my hurricane shutter boxes?

We went out to check on her today and she wasn't there. We saw one baby bird in the nest, and this on the windowsill beneath:



I was worried about how it had gotten down there, and it was sitting unnaturally still. I thought about trying to get it back into the nest, and then I thought about putting it in a box until its mother came back, or trying to nurse it back to health when I remembered my prior luck with "helping" baby animals, and decided to leave it alone.

BUT, first I decided to get it some water. A little water couldn't hurt and who knew when the mom would be back. So I got a very shallow dish and set it on the windowsill, and the little shit freaked out and started flapping and flying low across the yard.

Which made Lily notice it, and she took off in pursuit. It slammed against the chain link fence as I called Lily off. I went to try to scoop it up and put it back on the windowsill and it squeezed through the fence into the poop bomb throwing neighbor's yard.

SHIT.

I feel so bad. I just went back out there and the mom is back in her nest, probably wondering what the heck happened while she was gone. I don't see the babe-gone-wild, not even when I peek through the hedges into the poop-thrower's yard.

Sorry about that, baby bird. Hope you grow up quick.

7 comments:

Joy said...

back away from the baby animals:)

Amo said...

I'm sure that if the baby needs it's mommy it will peep until she finds it.

If not, well then, it probably wasn't smart enough to make it anyway.

Hope my negativity makes you feel better! ;)

The Girl said...

I think you and I may have similar luck in the wild baby animal department.When my Hubby and I lived in L.A., we found a fluffy baby bird on the ground. It was staring up at the tree, and was probably wondering WTH just happened. My Hubby picked him up, and the bird snuggled his hand for warmth. My Hubby wanted to climb up the tree to put it back in it's nest, but was worried about hurting the bird in the process so he asked me to get a shoebox.
Upon my return to the tree, the bird took one look at the shoebox and flipped out. It squeezed itself out of my Hubby's hand, jumped to the ground, and ran off into the bushes. We spend a good 30 minutes trying to get it out of the shrubbery. That little jerk had us running around all over the yard. When we finally got it, my hubby decided not to use the box and climb the tree without it. Turns out my hubby couldn't reach the actual nest, but he found a spot in the tree filled with a lot of dead leaves, and put the baby in there. As soon as he came down, the mother flew down to the baby, and fluttered around snuggling it, making sure it was all right. We were overjoyed and thought that we had saved the baby for good. Wrong!
At 3 A.M., my husband and I woke up to a commotion coming from the tree. We heard lots of panic chirping. When we peered out the window, we saw a racoon sitting in the spot, where my hubby put the baby bird. Someone was having a late night snack, all because we couldn't reach the actual nest. We felt guilty for a long time after that. Heck, my Hubby and I still get sad from time to time over it.

Jennifer said...

I hope the poop maker didn't get it.

Stereos and Souffles said...

Birds are nuts. I've got 5 zebra finches and a nest filled with 11 eggs that haven't hatched. Your bird will make more.

Life, Love And Lola said...

Oh Boy...You and the baby animals

Karen said...

Aww, poor little bird. The rule of thumb is: Put the bird back in the original nest. The Momma bird was likely out looking for food. Dang. That IS sad. I hope it lives.