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February 25th., 2008
TIme: 7:00 A.M. EST
~ SAVING A LITTLE WOODPECKER ~
This morning started out a bit differently then most of our mornings,
here on the mountain. My husband Joe
was still in bed. I was enjoying a cup of coffee
and engrossed in reading friends emails.
The peaceful quiet was broken when I heard
a thump against the window, looked out and saw a bird drop to the ground.
I ran to the window and looked down. There laid a small black
and white woodpecker on top of the snow
wings spread out. There was no movement.
I was still in my bathrobe and bedroom slippers
but I didn't care, I had to go get her,
before she froze, if she was even alive.
The temperature hovered in the low twenties.
I trudged through the snow, leaned over and carefully picked her up.
She was still breathing, but her eyes were closed.
I cupped her soft limp body in my hands, and took her in the house.
I held her for ten minutes or so, stroking her little head
and talking to her. Gradually she opened her eyes.
I could feel her wiggling and she began looking around.
I kept talking to her, and she would look at me sort of quizzically,
as I checked her wings and legs for broken bones.
Everything was okay thank God.
When I felt she was ready for flight, I took her outside
and opened my hand up. She seemed dazed yet,
but was looking around. I set her on a bird feeder and
she just sat there. So I picked her up and held her some more.
She didn't struggle to get loose. I guess she was still disoriented.
Once again I opened my hand. She looked around, but this time, with one last glance at me, she took flight.
Joe and I have helped other injured birds, like this
before, but never a downy woodpecker. They are the smaller of the black and white
woodpeckers. It is such and awesome feeling to help God's creatures.
Joe even had an experience with a bat, which quite truthfully
would have given me a heart attack LOL!
He was taking a cover off an air conditioner to ready it for summer,
and a bat flipped off and landed on Joe's bibby overalls.
(I would have fainted, and if not that,
the neighbors would have heard an ear-piercing scream).
Joe didn't want to kill it and didn't know what to
do with it, being it was daylight and they
sleep during the day. He also knew he couldn't
just set it on the ground, because then it
would have no way of lifting off to fly.
So he took hold of the bat and took it
down into the woodsy area, and set it
on some branches. Later in the evening he looked
for it and it was gone. How cool is that.......
UPDATE ~ Following day - February 26th. Joe and I were blessed
today with seeing the female woodpecker and
her mate busily pecking at the suet cakes.
Oh and just as delightful, another sign of spring
besides our daffodils, tigerlilies and other flowers peeking through the snow.
A chipmunk came out of his winter burrow, and sat in the morning sun.
Getting warm I would suppose. And busy finding sunflower seeds to nibble on.
Written by ©Barbara L Chambers Carter aka Bluejay12
~ February 25th. 2008 ~ Page designed by
Bluejay and Diamondavid. ~
Song Title: Canon
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