Bird Magnet
We’ve all heard of a chick magnet. You know the guy who has no problem with the ladies. Well, that isn’t me. Because I’m a girl. And I’m straight.
I am a bird magnet, though. Once when I was about nine years old, I was standing in a pool and a bird landed on my head. It was kind of weird, but also pretty amazing. I mean how often does that type of thing happen to someone? I felt proud that this bird chose me.
Before you start getting visions of some crazy lady standing with her arms spread out and birds landing all over her human perch, let me just stop you right there. You should know that has never, ever happened to me. That would actually be kind of creepy and disturbing. The bird from the pool was the last bird that actually flew over and landed on me.
The ones I seem to keep attracting are the ones who are just about ready to fly off to bird heaven. The sick, broken-winged ones that seem to know that I’m too much of a softy to walk away and ignore them.
Last night my kids came running in to tell me about this really neat bird they saw outside. I excitedly followed them out hoping to see a cardinal, blue jay or maybe even an oriole. Oh no, I couldn’t be that lucky. In my driveway was the most pathetic looking robin I have ever laid eyes on. The poor thing couldn’t even walk, let alone fly away. It just sort of hobbled a bit and then fell over on its side.
(Not our robin. Picture this one laying on its side for full effect.)
I have only one experience with trying to take care of a sick bird and that didn’t end very well. Ever since my failure as an aviary nurse, I have decided to let the experts handle the situation. I got on the phone and made phone call after phone call to vets, animal hospital and wildlife sanctuaries in my area. After what seemed like a couple hundred phone calls later, we found someone who would take the bird and hopefully make it new again. (Or at least put it out of its misery). Hopefully this little act of kindness not only helps the poor bird, but also will teach my children about compassion and showing kindness to those in need.
While we are on the subject of birds, we just picked up this cool book called the Backyard Birdsong Guide. It has a neat little audio feature that you can listen to the calls of each of the birds in the book. We’ve been having a good time trying to identify the birds near our house. So far, we have found robins, blue jays, mockingbirds and doves.
Let’s just hope they all stay healthy. At any rate, I have the bird lady’s number on speed dial just in case.
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Ok, you are freaking me out a little bit! Because I swear my husband and I call our house the bird graveyard!! For some odd reason, birds come to our yard to die. It gets me so upset!! Why can’t our house be the bird nursery…where mama birds and their babies come to nest instead??!
Well, at least I feel better about not being the only bird undertaker out there.
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That’s an amazing story! Birds freak me out, so I don’t think I’d ever be happy if one landed on me. My car does seem to be a bird poop magnet, though.
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