For The Birds

When I came home this afternoon, I saw a bit of movement out of the corner of my eye.  Hiding next to the tire of Dave's pick-up was a young bird that didn't appear to have figured out flying just yet.

I was worried about it not having chosen a very safe hiding spot. I also had the selfish thought to go get my camera since birds are usually pretty hard to get very close to. So I got the camera. My plan was to prod the bird to a safer area. I didn't want to touch is because I didn't want to get all "bird-y" and I didn't want to get it all "human-y".  I remember my mother telling me that if I ever found a bird nest to never touch the birds because then the birds would smell like people and the mother would reject them. I don't know if this is true or not because she also added, "and birds carry lice."  I figured if a mother bird would reject her baby for smelling like a stinky human then a young, perhaps teenager bird, would surely be bullied and rejected by its peers for such an offense.  I decided on the next stupidest strategy, which was poke it (ever so gently, of course) with a stick.

The bird did not like this plan and let me know about it in no uncertain terms. The lecture continued for a while. 

After the lecture, the bird hopped away under the pine trees; so the stick plan actually produced the desired results.  This was a much better hiding place and the bird promptly disguised itself as a pine cone. 

After taking the picture above, mother nature got her revenge for the stick poking. I lost my balance and fell. I had to fall all cattywampus (if you read my blog the other day, you know that I am smiling a big smile right now because I got to use "cattywampus" in a fitting sentence) so as not to smash the bird I was trying to save. Thank goodness no one had a camera focused on me. Still it was okay because I wasn't hurt and I was down at bird's eye level to take one last picture. 

Good luck little birdie....I hope you make it.