Replies

Birds have slaves

I don't know how smart birds are, but, I'm kinda thinking that, it's either smarts or dang good instincts that have them working hard to defend their kind... for example....

A baby bird fell off his nest from disturbances caused by landscaping people at the house next to mine. The baby bird actually fell onto my front yard

I didn't know what my 12 pound dog was barking at, the first time I walked him past some Spanish moss and he went to investigate. 3 birds swooped in on my dog and tried to scare him away, and my dog would not budge. So, I pulled him back into the house and thought nothing more of it. I had also noticed that the birds chased away a cat that had also been curious.

Several hours later, I walked my dog again, and after he was done doing his thing, he immediately went to the same area and started barking again at something under the Spanish moss. The birds swooped in again, trying to scare my dog away, and he still wouldn't budge. I called my wife out to see what our dog was barking at, and she got close enough to notice the baby bird on the ground, slightly covered by that Spanish moss. We figured that the baby bird would survive on its own, especially with the parents defending him and actually bringing him food.

But, our dog would not stop barking at the spot where the baby bird was at, and he actually barked more when he saw the baby bird patents stopping by and bringing food to the baby.

So, some guilt came over me after noting that it was getting dark and the baby bird might not survive the night. So, me and my wife went out to try to help the baby bird, and I approached slowly so as not to spook the baby bird or the parents.

To my surprise, the parents did not try to attack me, and I actually saw 2 of them watching me as I approached the baby bird. It's like they knew that I didn't mean any harm to their baby. I picked up the baby and put it in a box. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it, but, my daughter, who is a vet, suggested that I take the baby to the nearest overnight vet hospital.

So, we drove 1/2 hour to the hospital for care and feeding, and they said they would turn it over to the wildlife care people the next day.

The next morning, we saw the baby's parents looking under the Spanish moss, and they did that for about an hour before they gave up. I felt guilty then too, for taking their baby away. But, my admiration for their parenting was elevated to levels which I previously attribute to humans and other higher species.

I do wish that there was a way that I could have returned the baby to its parents.

BTW, that baby bird would not leave the palm of my hand once I picked it up, and it was making eye contact with me the entire trip to the hospital, and I almost decided to adopt it, but I felt that it would be better off in the wild.