Adventures with Dr. Lady Cutie Troublemaker

I don’t even really know where to begin. I woke up early today to go to a hiking meetup. I let Jeep out on the porch, and a few minutes later, I noticed her watching something. It was small and moving. I couldn’t quite tell what it was. Maybe a mouse? It seemed like it was injured, but it didn’t seem like Jeep had gotten close enough to have done anything (she was watching from a slight distance). I moved closer to see what it was, and it was a teeny tiny baby bird on its back writing around. I shooed Jeep and Maggie (who had wandered up) away from the little guy and went into to get something to flip him over. A wooden spoon did the trick. As soon as he was righted, he started doing that “Feed Me” thing baby birds do with their mouths. In seconds, he’d flipped himself back over. This bird doesn’t look like it’s going to make it. It’s soooo tiny, like a newborn. I was at a bit of a loss as to what to do. I called mom, and between her and her weekend visitor (a woman who raises birds), it was decided that I could either bring the bird to animal rescue or I could get it somewhere comfortable, cook spaghetti, and feed the bird as if I were feeding it a worm. I used the wooden spoon to get the bird on to a paper towel and lifted it into a little tupperware container.

I went off to my walk, and since I was a few minutes late, I missed the group. I walked around the lake and decided that if the bird was still alive when I got back, I’d make spaghetti for it. Sure enough, when I got back, it was still there, still writhing, so I put a pot of water on to boil. While checking the doneness of the pasta, I heard a lot of tweeting out on the porch. I looked out and saw a baby bird in the middle of the porch, far away from the tupperware. I thought it had traveled really far all by itself until I realized that this was yet another baby bird, on its back and struggling. Ugh! I ripped up paper towels to create a little nest in my overturned sunhat and used the wooden spoon to put both birds inside. I rinsed the done spaghetti until it was cold then draped several pieces of cold spaghetti around the edges of the hat. I started to hear chirping again (possibly Momma Bird), so I left the rest of the past in the strainer next to the hat, and quickly went inside and closed the drape across the door. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I think that it’s best if I stay out of it. I fully expect to find two dead baby birds out there soon, but I’m REALLY hoping I don’t.