A little birdie had the misfortune of flying into our window a few weeks ago. Chloe dumped out the Kleenex from her Kleenex box to make a nice little home. With Gigi’s help, little birdie was put in the box with a little piece of cloth and tucked into a corner on the deck, away from the wind…and cats. I guess the poor little bird must have been stunned and just needed to regroup. He eventually hopped out of the box and flew away.
Isn’t that a happy ending?
Growing up we often found hurt animals, mostly birds who had flown into our window but we did have other wounded animals to nurse too. We would care for them, love them, feed and water them…they usually died.
It didn’t traumatize me, nor did it make me immune to death. It was sad, but it was life; I had the satisfaction of knowing that I had done what I could.
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. ~ Matthew 10:29
“Let nature take it’s course” vs. “””doing what you can” – isn’t that the question? I think the biggest concern for DH was avian bird flu. It looks to me, from what I see online, that the biggest risk is infected poultry. Wild birds don’t seem to be of great concern and being careful to wear gloves and wash thoroughly, the risk is pretty minimal. I also found an authorized wildlife rehabilitator in our area for next time Chloe comes home with a wounded bird, which happened frequently this past fall. She seems so drawn to them, she loves animals and has such a tender heart. Actually this past weekend my mother commented on her love of animals and wondered if I am raising a future veterinarian.
We feed birds at our house and even built them a nice little pop bottle birdhouse last year. We enjoy learning about birds and how God made each unique. In our quest to learn more about birds, we learned that a lot of what we ‘know’ is false – there are many bird myths out there!
In any case, feeding or caring for birds, we are nurturing compassion and giving in our hearts. We are making a difference where we are doing what we can.
