the Nuthatch

Yesterday as I was walking my dogs I came across a wounded bird...ugh...so utterly depressing and the third time this has happened to me. The little bird saw my large dogs and hopped under the fence into the parks parking lot...not good for the bird I thought. So I tied my dogs to the chain link fence and waited for the bird to hopefully hop over to my side. (I'm not allowed to go into the park with my dogs...a common theme where I live...but that is for another 'gripe' day). I took off my sweater and waited and waited....finally it came over and i slowly followed it until I could get close enough, then tossed my sweater on the bird and scooped him up. The little bird made lots of noise, but ended up being rather friendly. Unsure of what to do, I decided to take him to the woods (again, I'm not allowed to bring my dogs there, but I was determined to save the little fella so to hell with these stupid city rules I thought) and find a safe spot for him. I ended up running into a very nice human who helped me find a safe spot for it. The little bird hopped and chirped and scaled trees! It's right wing was definitely injured, but he/she seemed to be doing quite well, especially considering it could scale large trees at a great distance. I was sad to leave him there but figured his chances of survival were better there than in my yard where neighborhood cats enjoy using my backyard as a 'thruway'...I went home to do a google search and found out that I rescued a nuthatch...or maybe the nuthatch rescued me from my S.A.D...

*the other two birds I rescued previously had different outcomes...Sadly, one died and is buried under my holly tree along with a dead baby possum I found laying in my drive and a headless bird I found in my yard...(regular pet cemetery over here) and the other, a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest and could not fly...not only managed to survive with the help of all the boxes and bins I put in my yard so it could duck in them in case of a cat trying to eat it, but I got to watch as he learned to fly higher and higher each day until he flew away...There were days when he used to go to my back steps and i would watch him from the door...I'd like to think he remembered me and was just saying 'hi'...