Posted on Fri Jul 4, 07:04 PM in Livin'
Alone, two souls come together for the greater good.
Like the last 8 days, I spent the Fourth of July alone, as the SO is over in Europe doing some shows. Being alone is not a problem for me; I enjoy “alone time” and have lots of things to keep me occupied.
One of these things was repotting some indoor plants. To be done safely, because I can be a spaz, I usually try to do this outside. While I was beginning the process, I noticed a noise I had been hearing all afternoon… I just hadn’t thought twice about it before then.
At various points that afternoon, I could hear a shrill aggravated bird call coming from somewhere between my house and our neighbor’s house. Not only as it clearly aggravated, but it was constant, with almost no pause between calls. I do remember at one point wondering what the matter was, but when it comes to birds, it is the season of Important Bird Business, so I thought nature would take care of it.
Potting my plant, I could hear this noise again and looked towards it, to our ash tree canopy… or so I thought, because as I walked under it, it sounded wrong. In fact, it was coming from our garage.
I had been out that morning, finishing up some garden business, and had left the garage door open all day. Walking in that afternoon, the call was certainly coming from somewhere inside, but I could not figure out where. I know birds can get disoriented, but usually, if they see the light outside, they know to aim their beaks that way to get out. This one wasn’t moving.
I walked back outside, convinced it would figure it out. But as I started back to my plants, I saw a chickadee dart from our ash tree right into the garage. Thinking this was the culprit, I followed. It hopped on the SO’s car (idle since its death in February), make a call (not the one I’d heard before), then hop with agility onto the cord hanging from our garage door opener. I chased it out… then heard the previous call again, in the garage, and saw, finally, that there was a tiny chickadee fledgling hanging on the rubber seal on the car window.
It certainly didn’t know what to make of me; it didn’t panic, but it didn’t get closer. It just hung on, kept up its call, and at times tried to get the wings going like a bird who knew it had wings, but wasn’t sure what to do with them.
I couldn’t force it out, as getting closer or waving things wasn’t having the effect it should have had. Eventually it flitted over to my car, and I observed the parents come a couple times to feed it. After a time, it then decided that the hardware of my garage door was an ideal roosting spot. This got me worried, because it could get squished if the door was sent back down. I wanted this bird out, and I wanted it alive.
So, after 40 more minutes of trying to guide it out (and failing), it started flitting back to the rear of the garage, and with luck, eventually landed on some of my long-handled garden tools. Finally, it’s lack of fear of me would pay off; I sloooowly took the tool out from the pile, walked it and the bird outside (with it crying to me the whole time), and left it in the backyard. After 5 minutes it flew off the handle (no pun intended) and I watched until the parents came back, which they did. An hour later, in my kitchen, I could still hear its hungry cry, coming from someone else’s yard.
Pictures of the cute bird, including the feedings, here.
Go ahead, have your say!