No Match for a Mommy Bird

We saw the cutest thing yesterday.  Our property is like the Wild Kingdom.  This summer I've seen foxes, raccoons, opossums, rabbits, squirrels, turtles (I'm not ready to talk about the turtle yet), lizards, a panther, owls, hawks and every kind of bird you can think of.  We had a bear spotted on the property next door and a 4 ft. tegre lizard on the next street.

So yesterday, I heard tweeting and a scratching sound at my laundry room door.  We've had a tiny sparrow build a nest on top of our cabinet in the laundry room every spring.  We leave the window opened an inch because we don't have the heart to shut her out.  We are suckers when it comes to living creatures.  Anyway, I got my husband so that he could handle the laundry room situation.  I was afraid that the bird would fly into the house and then we would really have a problem. 



Not actual baby - but very similar.

He knocked on the door before he opened it and the bird flew up to the sill. He shooed it out the window, then closed the window so that we could access the situation.  I noticed, what looked like, a large piece of dryer lint next to the door that leads outside.  Mark said "no, that's a frog".  But after closer inspection, it was a baby sparrow. 

We opened the exterior door, then got a dustpan to try to pick up the baby without touching it (we didn't want the mother to disown him).  The baby was so tiny, I didn't think he would be able to move by himself, but when Mark got near, the baby released a very large poop and hopped over the threshold.  At that point, the mother comes hauling butt around the corner of the house, resting on the clothesline to rescue the baby.  We closed the exterior door, went inside, and watched out the window to make sure that the baby was going to be safe.  That mother bird and another bird (probably the father or, perhaps, the nanny) flew down to the baby and coaxed him into the wooded area, then started flying lessons.

I was crying like a nut.  Watching that mother bird and her husband/friend teaching and protecting that baby was such a precious site.  Little creatures have so many lessons to learn to enable their survival.  I've seen mother birds attack dogs, squirrels, my chickens, and my husband when they felt that their babies were being endangered.  Evidently, being brave has nothing to do with size!

Peace,
Cyndi