This happened in our house yesterday, no, the day before yesterday!
After waking up in the morning, I came down from upstairs and suddenly started hearing some sound coming from the living room. First I thought it was the sound of a squirrel! Then I saw...Goalie, our cat sitting quietly and watching something dark in colour. I switched on the light and saw...a small baby bird shouting/crying feebly, continuously. I got so upset that I called my husband and he came running down! I asked him to take care of the cat, threw a small towel on the bird, took her outside, dropped her on the ground and she went hopping under some flower pots in our backyard. My husband closed all the windows and we were opening the doors slowly for sometime so that she did not have the opportunity to run out and catch the bird again!
After an hour, I went out and looked out for the bird. She was shivering, sitting near the pots and I noticed that ants had started surrounding her and biting her. I didn't see any parent birds for more than 3 hours. I took a glass of water and poured it around the bird so that the ants stopped biting her. Crows were roaming above and I was worried about them catching her. I changed her places twice removing the ants as much as possible with a towel. I had seen the bigger birds eating curd rice I usually placed for the crows, so, kept some in a small plate for this little one, near her (I found out later that it was not a good idea, the whole rice was full of red ants but they left the bird without doing much harm!).
After about an hour or so, I heard the bird's sound...the baby bird had started shouting feebly and then the parent birds came and the loud shouts began! All the three of them started 'talking'! The baby bird was happy and the parents were happy! I was happy that the bird didn't die in our house!
Our Goalie, as usual, was just playing with the baby bird, like she is doing often nowadays with all sorts of birds and animals (check here!) without hurting them much! She just wants something to play!
The baby bird was like this in the morning! Tiny scary bird!
By the evening, she was not looking scary, even when we went very close to her!
She looked like this - a bit grown up, the next day...ready to fly!
The mother bird, watching her baby! It was very difficult to take pictures of these birds, they are very sensitive unlike the Bulbul birds and fly away as soon as they see some movement!
I took this video of the amma-appa birds teaching their baby to fly. The teaching went on until the next day afternoon. I didn't see them afterwards!
This is our 'always playful' Goalie...she was born at home and later delivered three kittens at home...even now, she is happily playing with us! A happy kitten, no, cat, she is!
Edited to add on 15.7.11: The baby bird had a rebirth because she was silently waiting for her parents to come near her and then started squeaking...the crows were waiting on the neem tree to take her. As soon as I took her out from the cluster of pots to remove the ants, she flew down and ran under a Teak leaf which was quite big...she was a shrewd baby bird!
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21 comments :
baapre touching n interesting yar..
superb pictures.
ah bless .. wowo lovely pics and the video was great ..
parents do so much for kids ...
beautiful loved them
Bikram's
R.Ramesh: Thank you, Mr.schwarzenegger
Harish: Thank you, Harish!
Bikram: As I said earlier in my Bulbul post, our house is on the main road and I wonder how so many birds come to nest here in our garden. It is very small. It might not be easy for the parent birds to bring up babies. Only one baby survived, I think, out of 2 or 3.
Bulbul's video is better than this. These birds shy away from us, predators. Bulbuls were not so scary of me!
Very touching .It is indeed a Rebirth .One can feel it in next morning picture of the bird .I am calling my kids and family to show this post.Thanks for sharing Sandhya.
And ROFL and Haaaaaa on Mr.R. Schwarzenegge .Too Good :)
Great post.Pictures are so beautiful.
Kavita: Maybe if I had been late waking up in the morning, Goalie would have tossed the baby here and there - she plays like that - the baby bird would have died. One more thing...she was not destined to die on that day!
Thank you Kavita! Yes, doesn't Ramesh look like Arnold?! Or is he trying to become one?!
BKChowla: Thank you, Chowlaji!
Happy post sandhya and i too believe in rebirth.
Interesting birds, the baby bird sounds like a crow doesn't it?
Destination Infinity
Varunavi: I am not so sure about rebirth! But, here, the baby bird survived even after getting hurt by the cat and ants! This is really a happy news!
Destination Infinity: You heard the sound of real crows! They were hovering around this bird! They were doing that with our kittens too! The bird is very smart, whenever she came to the open, she used to run and hide...even under a teak leaf!
The bird's sound was like 'keek ki...' She was keeping on calling her parents and they came to take her!
When we came to this house, we used to see different kinds of birds. In the morning their sounds were so much that we had to get up at 5am even on a Sunday! Now, we hear sounds of just 2-3 birds...feel sad.
Heartwarming Sandhya! U r such a wonderful person!
beautiful picturs
Even having 2-3 birds in city garden is very lucky... And crows think they are smart - maybe they are? :)
Destination Infinity
Swaram: No, I was guilty to watch my cat bringing all the baby squirrels and birds to play and most of them die. She plays football with them. I and my husband do our best to save them and some are saved from the clutches of our murderess cat! But that is cat's nature!
sm: Thank you!
Destination Infinity: At least they are surviving, the crows!
Yes, even these birds will become scarce in another 15-20 years, I feel! I feel sad for them!
Wonderful from your part on saving the bird :)
Each time I hear about goalie I like her very much :)
Pics are nice :) :) yet to watch the video.. will watch and post comment :)
A brilliant piece of journalism Maami!!! You should send this to the papers!
Very touching. Paavam baby bird. It is as though you have granted her another life. Hence the title I guess! :)
Kanagu: This is not the first time we saved a bird...we have saved baby squirrels also sometimes from the mouth of the 'raakshasi' Goalie! She is too playful, Kanagu!
Ashwini: More than me, the bird saved herself! I had put her outside and she took her own time to give signal to her parents at the right time, which saved her, mainly!
Oh my god!! I am so glad the baby bird survived! Imagine ants biting a live bird... they probably assumed it was going to die. Nature can be so cruel, I am so glad you were able to help this little one!
IHM: I was really happy to see the baby with her parents at last, IHM!
I don't know whether to get angry with my Goalie or not! This is cat's nature. After doing all these things, she will sit on my lap and ask me to pet her! If I scold her, she replies back to every sentence with some sound!
Love this blog, keep up the great work wish you all the best.
Pet sitting Mckinney
Pet sitting and dog walking: Welcome here and thank you!
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