Beaks and Fledglings

Fledgling: a young bird that has acquired feathers for flight and recently left its nest but is still dependent upon parental care and feeding.

Those fledglings kept us busy yesterday evening. Unfortunately one died yesterday as it attempted to fly, but was found on its back on our front porch step in the scorching sun. We tried to revive it, to no avail : ( So now four minus one is three. We checked on them later and realized that there were only two in the nest. We went on a frantic search for the third.

Mama bird was on the far end of our lawn just a squeaking her high pitched one note call. We followed her call through a little patch of woods until we found her babe under a small pine tree. It tried to fly away from us, but we caught it and placed it back in the nest.

We were cozied up on the couch around 8 p.m. with a book when Treasure Hunter bursts in the door and says "HELP! The birds have flown the nest!" We went outdoors to help rescue the fledglings. This time we put them in the nest with their nose to the wall in hopes they would not turn around and fly again!

Sweetness and I went for our evening walk while Treasure Hunter and Cutie Pie kept watch for the birds. And sure enough they tried to fly again! You just can't stop them. But thankfully they were rescued again and put back into the nest.

So "WHY?" you may ask. Because Tigger our cat! He is normally an outdoor cat, but we've kept him locked up in our basement as he is licking his chops. Just last week he killed a bird in the yard that I thought for certain was mama Phoebe. But thankfully it was not.

So now we have to leave today for horse lessons! I'll check back in later : )

The wives tale "Do not touch wild birds in their nest, because your human smell will cause the mama not to come back to them" has proven false in this situation! However, wives tales have a round bout truth in them. I think the reason this tale started was to keep curious little hands away from the nest ; )