Baby bird back from the dead

So last night I checked on the baby bird at 1 a.m. It seemed fine and dandy. This morning at 6 a.m. it so did not. As in, it was laying on its side with one leg stuck up stiffly in the air. When I stroked it, it did not stir, it did not blink (the eyes were open). It felt cool to the touch –not stone cold but definitely cool. I stroked it for several minutes. Damn, I thought, it is dead and it must have died just a little bit ago.

So we did not make the trip out to the wildlife rescue at 9 a.m. Around 1 pm I thought, you know, I’d better go ahead and bury the poor little thing. I went into the closet, got the box, and came out of the bedroom. I lifted the top flap I’d not bothered to tape back down after the early morning check and …the bird was gone. The bird was gone!

Dead birds do not go anywhere! I raced back into the room, shooed away the interested cats and eased myself into the closet. There(!) on the floor of the closet was the very much alive little bird. It was seriously lucky I’d not stepped on it when I came in to get the box. I had to chase it around the walk-in closet (hop, hop, hop hop hop) before I finally was able to cup my hands gently around it and bring it out.

Back into the box it went. New tape was applied. I threw on non-kick-around-the-house clothes and out the door we went. The baby sparrow is now in good hands at the Wildlife refuge. It is with another baby sparrow that some folks were bringing in at the same time and both of them are on antibiotics. The staff member was confident that he is going to make a full recovery.

They say cats have nine lives…this little guy has at least 3!