The baby bird in this picture was hopping along a tree-lined street in Brooklyn Heights when Jason and I happened upon her. She was trying to fly but couldn’t. Perhaps she left the nest too soon…
Her mom talked to her from the tree branches up above and kept her eyes astutely on Jason and I as we rescued her from underneath a parked SUV and then again from the steps to someone’s garden apartment that she had gone down, but could not get back up.
We even witnessed her mother catch a fly mid-flight and then swoop down to put it in the beak of her baby. She did it again with a tiny worm and then again with the crumpled up pieces of bread we threw to her.
We put in a phone call to our good friend Jen from United Action for Animals for a bird rescue reference, spoke to the person and found out everything we were doing was just about all we could do. She said the bird sounded healthy and that the natural steps to first flight were playing out the way it was supposed to. The other alternative she gave us was to capture the bird and bring it to her on the Upper West Side so she could rehab it and eventually release it back into the wild.
It was a tough decision – to finally walk away and leave the baby bird to fend for itself on the streets of Brooklyn, but neither Jason or I were willing to take it away from its mother. And so baby bird, I go to bed praying that you will find your wings tonight…