Whitney's Post:
Birds...hmm...I'm not sure if I've ever blogged about Birds before. :) However, I am now because they have really been entering mine and Nathan's day to day life lately. There are two instances from the past week that have involved birds, and it makes me wonder if God is trying to tell us something - what that is...I have NO idea.
Here is the first bird instance:
It has been EXTREMELY hot here in New York and we don't have central air. We have a few AC window units but we try to keep them off as much as we can, because it can get so expensive. So- one evening when the sun was setting, I went into our guest bedroom and put my elbows inside the window sill so I could feel the breeze. This window is on the third floor of our building and the view is of our little backyard area that is fenced in. As I was looking outside, daydreaming about possibly having a cookout in our backyard sometime...I start noticing the pretty birds that are in the trees making themselves known by their little chirps. I start to really pay attention to them because my parents have tons of bird houses in their backyard in Tennessee and they get to see gorgeous birds up close all the time, so I wanted to see if this kind of bird life existed in our backyard as well. Then all of a sudden, a beautiful red bird landed on the tree limb near my window. Then I saw a beautiful butterscotch colored cat walk in the alley behind our apartment. I was so excited by the little animals that I yelled to Nathan to come see what I was seeing, and also to enjoy the glorious breeze that was giving me a nice break from the heat.
Right as he walked into the guest bedroom, I noticed that the cat had gotten into our fenced in backyard and was walking towards the table in the grass. I was just about to point out the beautiful red bird to him when all of a sudden right when Nathan looked outside with me, the cat pounced on a bird that I hadn't even noticed was sitting on the table in the grass. The bird tried to fly away, but the cat kept swatting at it like it was a toy. Nathan started gasping and laughing, like this is what I was watching the whole time. I was so shocked by what was happening, I felt so bad for the bird that I asked Nathan if we should run downstairs and shoo the cat away, but Nathan wanted to see what was going to happen in the 'natural circle of life'. The bird was wounded and could only hop- hop -hop around in the grass like he was trying desperately to fly away but the cat had handicapped him. What was so miraculous was that all the other birds from the trees started chirping like crazy as if they were calling for help, then they would take turns swooping down in front of the cat like they were trying to distract him so the injured bird could hop to safety. Nathan and I were cheering from our third floor window as if it was some sort of basketball game! Nathan was yelling "C'mon bird!! You can do it!! Just hop through the little holes in the fence to the other side!" and I was yelling "Hey birds! just all attack the cat at once!!"
Then we noticed something interesting...the cat wasn't trying to catch the bird at all so that he could eat him or kill him, he just wanted to play. The cat would swat at the bird and then sit back on its hind legs and watch the bird to see what it would do next. And that cat was not giving any grace to the bird. If the bird hopped at all, the cat would chase it and swat it back down. The cat was like "haha, nice try. try again." (meanwhile the birds are still chirping so loud trying to save their friend)
THEN..all of a sudden - enters a black and white cat into our backyard...out of nowhere! He pounces onto the grass, grabs the bird in his mouth, and trots off into the alley away from our house while the butterscotch cat just sits in our backyard confused at what just happened, and the birds slowly stop chirping.
Didn't expect that. Not at all. Poor Bird.
I guess our backyard even reflects New York and not glorious birdhouse Tennessee.
It's a hard knock life.
Second Bird Instance:
Nathan goes to work at a fitness studio in manhattan where he works at the front desk. As he goes to open the front door to enter, he sees that there is a bird laying on the ground against the door, blocking where Nathan can enter. He slowly opens the door and the bird doesn't move. He can tell that the bird isn't dead, but definitely hurt. One of the trainers comes up to Nathan and says "Dude...that bird just totally smacked into the glass front door and I guess is dead on the ground now- did you see it?" and so then Nathan spends the next 30 minutes sitting at the front desk watching this poor bird experience what seems to be the last minutes of his little birdie life. Nathan said that the bird would open its mouth so wide and its eyes would get big like it was trying sooooo hard to gasp for air and then it would just fall on its face. (haha, the visual is kinda funny) Nathan said it was sooo pitiful.
Then the trainer from the gym went outside to move it somewhere other than the front door and he goes to pick up the bird by putting his hand underneath him and all of a sudden the bird just flies away...
Hmm.....so- was the bird... acting? Playing dead??? Or did he just need a little nudge to get off the ground? Who knows...
So- in conclusion, it hasn't been a good week for the birds here in NYC.
5 comments:
hahaha. for some reason this may be one of my favorite posts! the first story had me laughing out loud all by myself here on my back porch watching the birds. You are a GREAT story teller! I felt like I was there too. Too bad they can't build a deck outside of your guest room where you could sit out there where it's cool and watch the wildlife. Oh well, you'll just have to sit and look out the window more.
When I took the girls home two days ago, there were two baby birds on their front porch floor. One was dead and the other was just sitting there but couldn't fly. They had fell out of their nest int he massive 110 degree heat. There was an entire nest full of baby birds in the corner of her little front porch. I grabbed Ella as quick as I could so she wouldn't see the dead bird and took her home through the garage. The record heat here not only has killed birds but most of my garden and grass!
My bird story:
I was mowing the front yard grass last week when a little baby bird fell out of a bush in the path of my mower. I stopped of course and as the mower silenced I could hear the sound of mommy and poppy birds screaming at me to stay away from their baby. I was actually afraid to touch the little feller cause I've been attacked by cat birds before while trying to help another bird. But no risk, no gain. I pushed him out of the way and he hobbled and jumped in the grass. It was, however, evident that he could not fly. So, risk #2. I picked him up and carried him to our backyard and placed him on the ground in a safe area. Mommy and poppy followed us to the backyard without dive bombing me one time. I searched and searched the next morning for the little fellow but he could not be found. Mommy and poppy were still flying around though. So….either nature took the little bird or just maybe he made it. I choose to believe the latter. He made it.
Oh my gosh I love the bird stories. My sister,aunt Millie were sitting in the gazebo last month watching the bird feeder and hadn't seen any cardinals lately so I went in the house and got my bird book with recorded bird song in it and looked up the cardinal song, played it and very soon a male and female cardinal arrived, looked around and then flew away. I am sure they were thinking...."hmmm thought there was a party going on, guess not!"
Just wanted to say that the little lame bird dad was talking about is still in our backyard. I took a picture of him yesterday. This poor little birdy has been in our yard for weeks. I first found him when dad was in asia. I can't believe the two cats that get in my pond trying to eat the fish haven't tried to eat him! I don't know what to do for this poor bird. It seems he is forever handicapped and won't be able to fly.
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