I would have left the bird to its business or helped it into the nearby bush except that two thoughts popped into my head:
- Those bushes were where we found the last litter of kittens, and this bird would make a nice meal for any cat that wandered by
- When I relayed the story of bird #1 to Kevin, he said that if he found an injured bird, he would put it out of its misery (in a more graphic way)
After reading this and then this, and realizing there was no way I would be able to take care of the thing, I figured out the best way to re-release it into the wild. I made a little paper towel nest in a basket I had lying around, and transferred the bird into it. Then B helped me string it up in a tree, where hopefully some bird will come along and feed it. Since it looked like it might rain (and it has, but only a little), B broke down a small branch from a maple and rigged it as a natural umbrella. I'll check on it again tomorrow.
Edited to add: Whether it was the rain, the cold, or the lack of food, the bird didn't make it through the night. I buried it in the backyard.
I, too, found a baby bird in my front yard yesterday. To be more accurate, I would say that Zoe found it. Luckily for me, it was already dead. It didn't have feathers or anything, which made it easier to pry from Zoe's jaws. Bad day for our avian friends.
ReplyDelete