Did you as a kid bring home animals found on the street and in need of rescue?
I remember that I did that a lot to my mother who ended up taking care of them … so I guess now it is my turn 🙂 Some days ago I found out with surprise that my daughter had brought home a little bird she had found on the street.
It was just two days before Victoria was to leave to her grandparents in Romania that she found this little bird that could not fly properly. Together with my mother she picked it up from the ground and brought it home.
When I arrived home from work I was greeted by an enthusiastic and glowing Victoria who dragged me from the entrance door to the living room to show me her little bird.  That is when I had a”deja vu” feeling. According to my mother taking care of the bird would be very easy. We just need to feed it and keep it safe for more or less a week before it would be able to fly and survive on its own.
Confronted with the enthusiasm of our child, any kind of objections died long before they could be put into words … My husband is quite strict about not having animals in the house, I knew I would be the one to take care of it, but still … parents go a long way for a smile on their kids face. Finally we settled on the compromise that the bird would stay outside on our courtyard.
The courtyard turns out to be a good bird recovery place. It’s big enough so the bird gets some space and the high walls prevent any cats to come and get themselves a birdy meal.
And hey, even my husband admits that the bird brought us some nice moments and experiences.
As a first, Victoria couldn’t get enough of the bird on her arm. She was caressing it, feeding it and talking lots of bird stuff with my mother. As a plus she was learning some stuff about nature and animals in a fun way.
Even for Lukas this turned out to be a nice learning opportunity. Being the wild, stormy guy off the family, he scared of the bird at first. But slowly he learned to be calm and after a couple of days he got the hang of caressing the bird. He, and the bird, even got confident enough that he could feed the bird – the bird would open the beak and Lukas would gently put the food inside – you can imagine his joy!
I was playing mommy bird and responsible with feeding, and my husband was kind enough not to mind having temporary bird poo in our courtyard.
Eventually like all the things that grow, our little bird spread its wings and flew away. We’re all hoping that the bird is safe and sound, and who knows maybe she’ll visit us again someday. Anyway, we are again bird-free and I am pleased with that, but also with the nice experience we gave to our kids.
Can you guess what bird species we cared for during one week’s time?
