Nature takes its course
Nice recovery!
A tale with a happy ending from the wonderful world of nature. At around 7.30 yesterday evening, Julie, sitting in the living room, heard a sound and then saw something drop from above onto the patio. It was a juvenile chaffinch that had clearly flown into the upstairs window. This happens all too often, especially in the spring and summer months when the sun is out. Anyway, he was sat there, on the patio, obviously stunned. We watched him from the living room and the kitchen and he seemed to sit there for ages. He was upright, but one of his wings was outstretched, while the other was tucked in, which made us concerned that he'd damaged it in some way against the pane. It was a heart-stopping moment. We locked the cat flap, and kept watch over him, without looming, and over the next half an hour he veeeeery gradually started to look chirpier and less bamboozled. (He looked very tiny down there on the ground though.) His wing righted itself. He plumped his feathers up. He started looking around. He was just quietly getting over his shock. Eventually he flew up into the apple tree, where, one assumes, his family were. It proves that intervention is very often unecessary and wrong. Nature finds a way. We are stupid enough to invent glass and put it up in the way of innocent birds, but when they hit it and end up grounded, dazed and confused, the best thing to do is hold back, give the little chap space and wait. There is a moral in here somewhere. We think we know better. We usually don't. They do.
By the way, I borrowed the above photo from a man called Bob whose website is all about his Kent garden. I hope he doesn't object.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 8:30 AM
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6 Comments:
Funnily enough, same thing happened to me on the way home from the pub the other night. Still, glad everything worked out for the little bird...
Not sure why the phrase 'juvenile chaffinch' made me laugh, but it did.
Made me smile too. Perhaps it's seeing a word that looks a bit like "chuff" so close to the word "juvenile".
can't help but go aw bless - I am getting right soft in my old age - glad Paddy and Pepper did not get a chance to go near him!
This story made me really happy :-)
Thank you!
It's a moral I'd yet to learn aged 10ish when I found a baby rabbit in some distress. I called over my brother and our friends. Andrew saw it next, then Christopher, then Keith. We called it Sack. After waiting absolutely ages for its mum to turn up we decided the best move was to wrap the poor thing in a coat and take it home. We put it in a cosy box in a quiet room with water and probably lettuce. I'm sure our mum would've said we should take it back, after tea or in the morning. But next morning Sack was dead. Did we kill it? Would it have survived the night even if its mum hadn't turned up? Had, worst thought of all, its mum watched us take her baby away? I for one am still sorry.
On a happier note, I recently found my toddler nephew crouched over a dead-looking woodlouse, not curled-up just stiff. I put it outside, under a flower. Rigor Mortis had definitely set in. Or Roger Mooretis ... minute later he zoomed off. Still feel bad about the rabbit though.
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