The Little Birdy

May 1, '08

I had a taste of what I imagine be like in the new system today.  I went outside for a bit today by our magnolia tree and come fluttering right to my shoulder a baby Finch landed and just sat there. This reminded me so much of my parakeet Nikki I had as a child that used to come to my shoulder and my shoulder only.  At first I did not want to move for fear that this tender moment would end,  but after it sat there for about a minute I spoke in a soft voice to it and yet it remained. After a couple of minutes more I decided to try to gently touch it and it still stayed there on my shoulder.  At this point I found that I could pick it up and place him on the flat of my hand with hardly a worry on its part.  It did at this point flutter to the near by Magnolia tree next to me but went no further. I thought this behavior quite strange for a wild baby finch. I went to touch it as it sat there on a limb next to me and it remained. One of the cats noticed it too at this point also. I next gently placed it on the flat of my hand and I turned wondering if I could get Kathy to share this with me also. This turning cause the Finch to fly to a low branch of another nearby plum tree. I Took a few steps where it had landed to see if I could pay any more attention to it. It once again let me place it on my hand and I cautiously went in the house with the bird gently cupped in my hands. Kathy was amazed by this site as we both went back outside to enjoy this occasion. We decided to call our local bird expert Br. Kudabeck over to see what kind of bird this was or if perhaps he was a pet. While we waited for Ron to come over little Nikki flighted and landed on the ground which worried us about its safety. Ron came right over and identified the bird as a wild baby Finch.  We knew this bird could never make it in the wild since it did not want to fly off nor very far. Ron took the Finch we had decided to call Nikki home since we knew he would never make it in the wild acting as it was.  I decided to write this up this evening after our meeting now, while I still remember. As was half way done writing this Ron IM'ed me and let me know that little Nikki had passed. We came to the conclusion that there must have been something wrong with our brief little friend. We feel privileged to have met him and been able to share this special time with our special little friend.