[TigerTail]

well, i needed a catchy title (you can read, don't worry, it has a happy ending...)

about a week ago, i'm walking on the (leaf-littered) gravel driveway, & i kinda trip over something- thinking it's a hickory twig, i kick it aside. then a i hear an outraged 'squeak', and look, & it's a fledgling sparrow, laying on its side, apparently wounded, & giving me a look like 'hey!'

i was mortified, of course, and there are no bird rescuers around (trust me, i have been looking for years), and my success has not been astounding salvaging the injured wildlife... i didn't know WHAT to do.

so i said 'what the hell, maybe it belongs here anyway', took a deep breath, and stuck it in the birdhouse full of sparrows on my red cedar. i said a prayer that it was just stunned, & that it had the brains to pretend it belonged in there & gape like the rest of the noisy brood- and that the parents (who were busy at the time) would not notice the er, increase in their family.

(i felt a little guilty, as they were already working vastly hard to feed the ones they had, but i do give them a nearby finch feeder with plenty of water available & lots of insect habitat, so it's not like they had to do it completely on their own.)

so, i hadn't noticed any ejected bodies, & the same ol', same ol' when it came to big open birdie mouths hanging out of the hole, & went about my business...

today, on the deck (i cleaned the parrot's cage there yesterday, & hadn't had a chance to sweep all the detritus away. nice pickin's), my dh saw the entire family perched on the rail, getting fed in a row repeatedly by the parents... daddy, mama, 3 kids, & one baby (same kind- whew), bigger than the rest!

everyone was quiet (i was very proud of the boys), & watched them feed the babies for the longest time, but finally sam couldn't stand it and hollered, "THAT'S THE BABY MAMA KICKED!"

:LOL

they flew away in a flutter, but i still thought it was a nice story. there is enough sadness in our gardens (i just found a skeletonized jay fledgling in my front border, & another daddy sparrow just got hit by a car in front of my house) this time of year, that i thought everyone would like a little hope for their rescue efforts.

suse

 

[Chanley]

I found the baby birds who have a nest in my pie safe in the barn on the floor the other day.

I spent an crazy amount of time putting them back in the nest and feeding them. Yes, I ripped apart an earthworm to feed them. Drew said they are learning to fly in the barn now.....

Suse, I miss you SOOO much!

 

[party_of_seven]

Awww! That's such a cute story. I'm so glad it worked out all right.

I have a nest of sparrows living in a decorative birdhouse right on my front porch. They just hatched a few days ago, and they don't even have feathers yet....just this little poof of down on their heads :LOL

We have been just quietly observing the babies and the parents. It so cute.

Oh, in case you didn't know, a bunch of the big pet stores like Petsmart carry a mix for hand feeding birds...even wild birds. You just mix it up and use a small syringe to feed it to them. I learned about that stuff when we had an MDC get together and one of the moms was taking care of an injured wild bird. She said it works great...she has taken care of a bunch of baby birds.

 

[MaggiesMom]

 

[BumbleBena]

Aww! :LOL

Cute story!

 

[TigerTail]

i miss you too, chan

i think of you when i see that lone, straggly poppy in my 'pink' bed. omg, i can't grow poppies. good germination, but i killed them all (almost.) do you think because yours grow so much earlier they escape some of the heat & humidity that turn mine to mush? (my oriental poppy comes up every year, & melts before blooming too.) argh.

i can see our kids in the garden; sam pointing out the 'lady parts' & 'man parts' of a flower, & your girly rolling her eyes and correcting his botanical nomenclature :LOL (sam is used to being the neighborhood know-it-all; it would do him good.)

btw, back to topic, just wanted to point out it wasn't those pestilential english sparrows that come steal food off your plate in hawaii & cali; i wouldn't have gone to so much trouble for them (without necessarily kicking them on purpose.

) nice little chipping sparrows, i think. (or 'lbbs', as seed developer carol deppe calls them- 'little brown birds'

it stuck in my head, those lbbs.)

i hope your lbbs are doing well, chanley monster. my best to drew & your littles. i think of you often. i'll try to get some garden pix posted somewhere (my tomatoes are monstrous. it's the chickens.)

susan

 

[delicious]

that is a cool story, thanks for sharing.

i would have been traumatized if i kicked a birdy! i'm glad he/she was ok !