Well, I don’t mind telling you this little guy is driving me crazy. As my fellow Facebookers already know, he fell out of his nest and into my courtyard a few days ago. At the time he was no bigger than a…a…I don’t know, a car key maybe?
I’ve been fretting about him ever since. Of course it’s ruined my life. Baby birds always do. To protect him I’ve pronounced the courtyard officially off-limits to everyone and everything except for me and his mother. Here’s his mother standing guard and waiting, just as I am, for him to grow big enough to fly.
Together, we two mothers have been doing the best we can. I leave puddles of water for him all over the courtyard, and his mom flies down and feeds him throughout the day. In between, he hides under a flower pot to get out of the heat, and he chirps at her, demanding more attention, more food. You know, just like a real kid.
But every day he gets a little bigger, and whereas on Sunday all he could do was hop from place to place, yesterday he began fluttering. Mostly he fluttered up and onto the flower pots. Today I see he’s progressed, “flying” all the way to the top of the little wire fence I put up to keep the dogs away from my patio garden…if they dogs were allowed out there, which ever since his arrival they are NOT. Here he is, proud of himself for having “flown” onto the fence were he can get a better look at his mom.
He watches for her all day. And all day she sits on the roof and watches him, too.
Oh how I can’t wait for him to fly. I’m sure she’s just as anxious about it as I am. I’ve got a life to live, and I’m sure she does too. Hurry up and grow, little bird, HURRY UP!
Awwww. LOVE this story. I love the little finches. We have a TON of them in the trees outside my back yard and I love listening to them. My kitties, thank goodness, aren’t allowed outside or they’d be having a finch feast for lunch one of these days.
I love the little birds too, I just wish they wouldn’t fall out their nests. Sydney would like to eat him, and Stella would like to just carry him around in her mouth for awhile. Timmy, as usual, could care less.
First, you are amazing for taking such good care of this little guy.
Second, I’m pretty sure that the adult bird you photographed is a male House Sparrow. They are very common in the United States and the male is the only one with the black throat.
If he is the only parent you are seeing, I’m wondering if something happened to the mother and the father is having a hard time taking care of the baby by himself. I’ll bet he and the baby are happy that you stepped in to help!
There are actually two birds who watch over him, so I probably got a photo of the dad. The one you saw, the dad I guess, is constantly chirping at him, probably saying “Fly, you idiot! Fly!” and it’s the mom I saw feeding him. π
You are a wonder, Wendy.
Well that’s a nice way to put it, Chris, thank you. Others might spell it S-U-C-K-E-R.
Well, yeah! IF you were doing it for a human!
What a lucky baby and momma bird to have landed in your neighborhood! These stories are so cute and make me feel so close to you because I’m such a sap for animals like this. It’s so lucky that the momma is sticking around to feed the baby so you don’t have to worry about that and the baby is getting what it needs! Yay all around! π
I’m a sap too. If I can save an animal I’ll at least try, I can’t bring myself to just walk away. One time I had a baby bluejay that fell from a nest, and I kept it in my bathroom for a couple days…then on the third day I opened the door and he flew at my face and tried to peck me to death! The he flew out the open window, thank God.
Brian pointed out that the adult bird in my photo is a male, but there are two birds who take care of him so I guess the momma feeds him and the dad chirps orders at him all day. π
That bird is so cute. Barry and I have taken in birds. When I was a kid I took in a bird and it died when I left it with Barbara and my brother. I had to leave for a week and go with my parents on vacation. I don’t think it was their fault though I did at the time.
Keep us posted
Taking in birds is tough and I really hate it. And P.S., I think it Barbara and your brother did it on purpose — in the library with a candlestick.
Your story reminds me of a time when we had a parakete fly into our back yard. We had a lot of hawks flying around, and lots of crows which would have made short work of him/her. We took the bird into the house went to the store and about $120.00 later we had everything a little yellow parakete could want. We named the it luckybird. Still have the bird after almost ten years and luckybird chirps when ever we are around. Take care Wendy and good for you to take care of nature’s little ones.
Wow, ten years and you’ve still got that bird?! That’s very cool. I’ve always been kind of tempted to get a parakeet, but when the kids were small we had a very small parrot and it got sick and died. I’ve always been afraid of that happening again. I do love the name Luckybird. It’s perfect. π
Ah, this is so cool!
Thank you. π
You are being featured on Five Star Friday!
http://www.fivestarfriday.com/2009/05/five-star-friday-edition-54.html
Oh. My. God! How exciting! Thank you, schmutzie, for letting me know! And hey, I love your avatar. π