We have some new feathered friends to share! It’s really exciting to experience God’s creatures up close and personal–a little taste of heaven, we think.
First of all, meet Jay, the baby Blue Jay. Our friend found him a little battered up, okay, a lot battered, as a dog had pretty much tried to eat him for lunch. Our friend nursed him back to health with, not worms, but tofu! I guess he was a bit too squeamish to go dig up worms. Whatever the case, Jay is thriving and growing. My husband took a video of the little guy, and when anyone would speak to him, he appeared to be listening, but when our friend who found him spoke, he immediately opened up his mouth for food! He knew who brought home the tofu! He follows our friend around like a little puppy, and now that our friend (whom we’ll call Dad) had to go away on business, Jay follows “Mom” around. She cannot go too far without him protesting if he’s left behind. It’s really sweet!
We went to pay Jay a visit last Sabbath, and the boys got to feed him berries and popcorn by hand. They also held him and watched him hop around. Jay has a lot of personality, and apparently even took some rides on the dogs’ backs while they wondered what was going on. When Jay got tired, he flew over to “Dad’s” chest so that he could hold him, and he nestled down in his arms while “Dad” petted his feathers. Then he got put into a basket with a towel over it for the night, and Jay went to sleep. How cool is it to see a wild bird so friendly with humans!
I do understand that wild birds should stay wild, but, honestly, if it was leave the bird to die or take the chance on helping it, I think our friend made the right choice.
Today our family had a little experience with a bird too. While driving to VBS, I passed a bird who was sitting right in the road–I really wondered if I had hit him, because he didn’t move. I backed up, and he was still there, so I approached him. He did not move then either, so in order to try to get him out of the road, I found a small bowl and tried to scoot him to the side. He flapped but could not fly, and I could see a small place on his head that suggested that he’d been hit by a car. We put him in a box until we could figure out what to do with him. Action A said a prayer for wisdom for us, and protection for the bird. By the way, he was a beautiful Red Headed Woodpecker. I did not think to take a picture of him, but you can learn all about his kind here:
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/red-headed_woodpecker/id
He had spunk, and I hoped that he was mostly just shell-shocked, but I wasn’t sure if he had hurt his wing. I knew that we could try to help him, but that it might not be enough, etc. I decided just to let him rest quietly in his box until after VBS, then we’d see how he was faring. At the end, since he still looked pretty perky, we took the opportunity to allow the children to peek into the box, which they loved! Most, including me, had never seen a Red Headed Woodpecker, or any bird for some of them, that close! One little boy was SO excited! He brought his mom and little sister to see the bird after the program, and you could just tell that seeing this bird made his day great! He looked about ready to burst as he said, “He is SO beautiful! I LOVE that bird!” That was truly refreshing to hear a little eight-year old boy expressing his deep love for one of God’s little creatures.
Well, we bought some tofu, just in case. I opened the box to clean up a little deposit that he made, and wondered how I’d know what to do with this bird. I didn’t want to let him loose if he was hurt, but knew that ultimately, he needed to be where he belonged in nature. I didn’t have to wait for long! As soon as he saw that he had his chance, he shot up right out of that box and flew up into a tree! Yay! He looked as good as new! I called the boys over to see, and the last we saw was him soaring over the yard to a tall tree where he disappeared.
We are truly blessed to have had a few hours to spend with this beautiful creature, and we are also thrilled that he is back where he belongs–out in the wild!
And, I guess we get to eat the tofu! 🙂
Lessons...and lessons 