Communing with Nature

While the kids were napping today, I heard a small noise in the kitchen. I went to look, thinking it was Nathan, but he was still asleep. About an hour later I was in the kitchen and noticed a lot of dust and crap on the corner of the counter. This is under an area that juts out next to some cabinets, but isn't actually a cabinet. And I just noticed today that it wasn't closed up, so it's essentially open to the attic.

This corner of the attic is also home to a nest of birds, and they make quite a racket all day. Especially today, they were squawking like crazy. So I thought they must have knocked the dust down. Then I finally noticed that there was more than dust on the counter. Hiding behind the detergent, trying not to be noticed, was a little baby bird. She must have been there at least an hour.

Aaackk. What do I do? I quick went to the internet and typed "baby bird out of nest" into the search engine. She had lots of feathers, so I think she's at the learning to fly stage, but I couldn't tell if she was hurt. The advice was to put her back in her nest, but I couldn't get to it. So the second option is to make a small nest and leave it near the main nest. I got my winter gloves on, and carefully lifted her into a bowl of leaves, then covered the bowl with a strainer. She was moving her legs and wings around a lot, so that seemed to confirm that she wasn't injured. I took my cargo outside and wondered if her parents would find her, and how long she'd use the makeshift nest for. But as soon as I took the strainer off, she leaped out and hid in the flower garden. I hope that now that she's outside again, she can fend for herself.

Ya know, I'd like a normal day again. Add this adventure to Nathan running full bore into the Lifeguard chair and giving himself a bloody nose, and I'm about done for the day.