Li'l Bit

Our baby bird saga continues...

Yesterday a fledgling fell out of its nest and Tabbie Hoffman made a playmate out of him.  Luckily, I was able to separate the two before Tabbie killed the poor thing but by then, the little birdie had blood on his leg and wasn't flying.  He may not have been flying well to begin with and Tabbie just made things worse. He just hopped around in the grass, flapping his wings.  I freaked out, crying because it was misting rain and we couldn't find the nest and he was going to drown OMG and Larry, being the sane one in our household, gently picked him up and put him in the pretty gourd birdhouse we got at the Cherry Blossom Festival three years ago.  Just as the bottom FELL OUT.

We put a little water in there and some mealworms and hoped for the best.

Today he was still alive!  And kicking!  And not bleeding!  He just wasn't flying very well, just kinda flailing.  So we brought him inside and put him in a box.  Larry took some chicken wire and made a top for the box and he's in our mudroom, with more mealworms and a little water.  And a nice soft table napkin to lay on.  He's not bleeding at all anymore and he's pooped already so I think he just needs a few days' rest and quiet.  He had quite a traumatic encounter with Mr. Hoffman!  We're going to take him out every morning and the first morning he flies out of the box and into the trees, he's a free bird!

But until then, ain't he sweet??

I've had my heart broken already this spring with a nest full of eggs that fell in a rainstorm so I am so happy to have found this little one.  Somehow he grew in a nest in our yard that I knew nothing about. 

We're calling him Li'l Bit.  :)
  
***Update:  MORE heartbreak.  Li'l Bit died that night.  Larry buried him in a flower bed the next morning after I left for work.  I was very, very sad.