We Saved A Baby Bird

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     Thought I would share this interesting story with you. A few weeks ago, my husband came in and said, "A bird laid eggs in the fence post again." Zoey was excited, but I thought, "Oh, great. More dead baby birds!" (Yes, that is sarcasm..) 
     Every year, a momma bird lays eggs in the fence post of our yard. And every year, we end up with dead baby birds in our fence post. I can't understand why they do this every year! Does the momma bird not get that the babies never make it out of there? Sheesh! 
     Zoey runs out to look, and sure enough, there are cute baby birds looking up at her through the hole. Every day, she goes out to check on the baby birds. They are living and thriving. Cutest little fluffy baby birds ever. The whole time I'm thinking, "She will be heart broken AGAIN!" Yesterday, we are out walking the yard with her dad and she ran around the house to check on the baby birds. Suddenly, she is running back telling me "We HAVE to save it!" One of the baby birds died, and the other was sitting on top of it, crying out. The dead baby bird is already starting to smell very foul. Poor little guy! We must save him. 
     Now how on earth am I supposed to rescue a baby bird that is over a foot down this narrow pipe? Light bulb! I send Zoey into the house for a cup of wood chip bedding and a pair of tongs. (I know the tongs sound scary, but bear with me.) The tongs do not reach the baby bird at all. Slowly, I start to drop a small amount of wood chips into the side of the opening. The bird flutters about and is raised ever so slightly. (Pretty ingenious, right?) Drop a little more. Flutter a little more. Bird gets a little bit higher. Now, mind you, this is a very slow process. I don't want to bury the little thing in wood chips! Slowly but surely, it is working. I know it is strange to think the little birdie understood what was going on, but it sure seemed to. 
     When the bird was about 8 inches from the top, I lowered the tongs down into the pole. Guess what happened? The little bird perched on the end of the tongs and allowed me to raise him out of his little hole. Zoey cupped him lightly and put him into the cup we had the wood chips in! SAVED! 
     Poor thing was a bit funky from sitting a top of his dead room mate. Zoey decided he needed a little bath. She put a small amount of water into the bottom of the bathroom sink and let him splash around in it. Then, she lightly wrapped him in a towel. 
     As he dried, we wondered what kind of bird it was. We got on Google and searched for 'Black baby birds with a white ring around it's head.' Nothing really looked like the baby bird we had. Most of the babies that came up had grey under bellies and more white around them. Zoey remembered she had a bird book in her room. We looked at all the birds, the only one that looked remotely like it was a Chickadee. Alex had come out of his room to see what all the fuss was about. He read to us what the book said about a Chickadee bird. Zoey and I searched more info on the computer. Here is the book Zoey had. It is actually a pretty cool series. Not sure where she got it from but it was published in 1960 and it is called the Standard Treasury Of Learning. 

     While it did have a similar shape, our chick just did not have the same coloring. Or, it didn't until he fully dried. Look at the whitish feathers coming up on its chest and under belly. Our little rescued birdie WAS a Chickadee! 
     

And this Chickadee was not happy unless he was being held.   

     For about an hour, we wondered what the heck we were going to do with a baby bird. Zoey found a worm in the garden for it. He was not interested in it until she chopped the worm up. Gross. He ate a few bites though and we were grateful he was trying to eat! Still, what on Earth are we going to do now that we saved and cleaned him up? Mike suggested we put it out in the chicks cage. I was afraid they would attack the little guy though. 
     While I was sitting there, little birdie in my lap, talking to my husband about what we were going to do, IT FLEW! Not like a soaring eagle kind of flew, but an, "Oh, no! I don't know what I am doing but I am just going to go with it." kind of flew. That is when we realized, little birdie didn't need us anymore. We had rescued it from the fence post, bathed and fed him. He was already ready to go about the world and do his thing. 
     Zoey, her dad and I walked out to the corner bushes to let it go. The little bird chirped and cheepped frantically.  When we got to the corner bushes, I noticed the sound of another bird chirping and cheeping. Sure enough, what could possibly be the little birds mommy was darting with in the bushes. What luck! :D
     We placed him in the bushes and backed away. The mature bird came and flitted around the trees and bushes where our baby bird was at. It was time for us to say goodbye. Zoey was a little sad. She had hoped we could keep it a little longer. We walked away arm in arm. I told her how proud I am of her. She encouraged us to save a baby bird. She loves all animals and has a huge heart. I am so proud of the little woman she is becoming. 

Bye little birdie! Good luck, and try not to lay your babies in the fence post.. PLEASE! Ah heck, maybe we just need to get a cap for the post... 

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