Bird Rescue

Yesterday while mowing the lawn the boys and I came across an injured bird.  Now, if you know anything about my boys you know that they LOVE animals.  All animals no matter the size.  We decided that the bird needed to be removed from the sidewalk where he could become more injured.  Our guess is that he fell out of the neighbors tree (they were having some yard clean up done) and he was on the younger side.  

I decided to get some gloves and a box (I read that its good to put them in a box in a dark space to rest and hopefully recover)  Now, if you know anything about me.... You know i'm not particularly fond of birds.  My boys (Jo and Noah) felt very passionate about this mission so I knew that it was my duty as their mother to help as much as I could and be brave.  Just as i prepared to pick up the bird Jo said, Mom would you like me to do it.  I felt a great sense of relief and handed him the gloves.  He was so calm reached down to pick up the bird and place him into the boys.  To our great surprise the bird popped up landing in the box.  

We decided to leave the box open to see if he would fly away on his own.  After awhile we realized he was not going to take off.  We closed the box, and placed a towel over the top to block out any light.  I then made a few phone calls (The boys were determined we were going to help this bird) with no success.  We checked on the bird throughout the day, the boys even found him worms.  We decided that we'd see how he was in the morning and make a decision from there.  Before bed Jo was very concerned about the bird requesting a special prayer.

When we woke this morning we checked on the bird and he didn't seem much better, maybe even worse.  We decided that the best plan would be to take the bird to the local forest preserve.  We loaded the box up in the car and headed over.  The boys asked that i carry the box, we found a good place to leave him.  While carrying the boys the bird started to flock around inside which freaked me out a bit but also gave me a bit of hope that he would fly away.  

We started to draw a few observers and we opened the box.  The anticipation was short lived.  The bird did not jump up and fly away but instead just stayed in the box.  We tipped the box and slowly edged him out.  I'm pretty certain that the bird will not make it, we said a quick prayer for him and headed back to the car.

I absolutely love that my boys have tender thoughtful hearts for not only the people around them but also animals.  This little experience pushed me out of my comfort zone and showed me again just how amazing my boys are.