Flight of the little birdie

Sharing a recent incredible experience:

Incessant barking of my generally calm pet, “Leo” in the early hours of morning, caught my attention. As I came to check on him, he led me to the balcony, barking, while staring at a corner. ?

Upon cowering to have a close look, I saw a little sparrow- wet, crouched, literally rolled into a small ball. As I tried to get closer, she sensed danger and fluttered around, but could barely rise a few centimetres above the ground, clearly unable to fly. There was no apparent injury. I thanked Heavens that Leo had not harmed her and instead decided to seek attention. It wasn’t difficult for him to just pounce upon the little birdie, but am happy and proud of him for doing nothing of that sort. Still, to be on the safe side, not entirely sure of his carnivore/retriever instinct, I led him away from the balcony, and was back to the birdie. Slowly I held and examined her, there was indeed no injury, maybe she was just small and having just learnt to fly, landed in the wrong place, got wet and cold and the weight of feathers now was too much for her to be able to fly again, or may be she was just weak and scared. ?

A clean, unused, meshed bin came in handy as her safe harbour. I dried her up a bit, kept some grains and drinking water, and brought her inside. The bin was placed near a large window that allowed in plenty of bright and warm Sun. While all of this was on, otherwise energetic and excited Leo was quietly watching, no fuss, no noise!

After some time, the birdie apparently got some strength, feathers had dried up so it flew out of the bin, and could flutter around, about two feet high. I was unsure if she would be able to fly high enough yet, as even the low flight was still staccatic and not strong enough. Letting her out was dangerous, with predators lurking around. As I attempted to hold her again, he tried retreating into the narrowest possible, least accessible corner of the dog safety door in the stairs (the little one knew in her head that in this situation, when it couldn’t really fly , it was safest just to move away to an inaccessible space and stay put there!). ?With some cajoling and manoeuvring, I did manage to gently hold her, put her back to the bin and brought it to the balcony, which had become sunny by this time.

In the meanwhile, I could hear a gradual surge of chirping and commotion around my balcony, the family and friends of the little birdie seemed to be looking for it!!

And then a beautiful sequence of events unfolded, that left me totally in awe of the ways of nature…and the birdie family

I kept the birdie in the bin there, and a small bowl of grains nearby. A couple of birds were flying around. I stepped away, watching and observing from the glass door. Leo joined me in the gaze. A birdie flew in and sat on the railing, carefully glancing around as if scanning the surroundings and ensuring it was safe enough to get to the little birdie. This continued for a couple of minutes- mother bird on the railing, a few other birds flying/ perching around, at a distance. By this time the little birdie had also moved upwards from the base of the bin, and was sitting on its top edge. Carefully, the mother bird scanned again and upon being convinced that they were in safe zone, came down and sat with her for a while. Heard a few happy chirps from the little birdie, as against the shrill, scared, sounds she was making earlier. Mother bird then dived to the floor, picked up a grain in her beak and glided back to the top of the bin with the grain, and there goes open the little birdie’s beak to catch the gain mama brought for her. This went on went on, one grain after another.... from a bigger beak to a smaller one! And mama birdie made sure to fly to the railing in between to look for any danger lurking around. What a sight it was!! And this wasn’t all, soon there was an addition, papa birdie flew in from somewhere, and now sat on the same spot at the railing, on guard- scanning the place, looking around for any potential danger, and mama was now fully focused and busy feeding the little birdie without having to worry about the rest!! This continued for quite some time and I was mesmerised watching from behind the glass door; captured a few pics ( missed the kodak moments, but managed a few clicks!)- the little birdie inside the bin, mama birdie on guard and later perched up with him, and then papa birdie on guard, little one being fed all this while. ??

Once the little one was well fed, they were together for some time and then mama-papa birdies went off, probably just flying around and watching from a distance. A few more hours of Sun, the energy from the food and care from parent birdies, helped him regain his strength. I could see it was fluttering around better and stronger now. And bit of help with a small, careful thrust, and a skyward aim, she indeed took the flight – the “Flight of the little Birdie” and as I saw it flying off higher up, I was overwhelmed and amazed at the wonders of nature I just had the privilege of experiencing, and absorbing… the survival instinct, the nurturing instinct, friends and family bonding, the intelligence of the avian and canine species and last but not the least, respect for preservation of life and the living.

…and we still think humans are the superior species inhabiting this planet!!