I was passing my front door yesterday and saw a bird standing on the porch.
So, I looked again.
This time I saw the bird walking off the porch onto the flat boulder we use as a first step. She was slowly strutting into the front yard. (That's her in the picture on the left.)
I was surprised because typically we see birds like this (white and black feathers, yellow bill) out back, where there also is a beautiful tidal river more accustomed to being the setting for them (well, and other wildlife. Saw a fisher cat there once, not to mention the ground hog that lived under our shed, until we hired a wildlife catcher-guy to trap him so he didn’t burrow all over the place. But that’s another story. So is the five turkeys that were once perched on the shed's roof).
Anyway, I left the bird and went back downstairs to finish reading the morning papers. About an hour later, I went back upstairs to go out and check the mail. And, the bird was still standing -- in the same spot, on the manhole cover that provides access to our septic tank. Now, I’m thinking to myself, “Self, that bird must be injured.” But, her legs looked fine (though thinner than mine even) and her wings looked fine, too.
So, I opened the door to head to the mailbox by the road, thinking the bird would take off when I exited. She didn’t, just standing there, kind of watching me but he also had a distant look in her eye. I walked to the street, pulled out the mail and walked back to the house. She hadn't moved one step.
Now, I’m thinking she must be injured, what do I do? So, I called the police, where, the listing on the interweb said, there also was the Animal Control Officer.
The officer who answered seemed bewildered after I explained, “I have some kind of seabird in my front yard and she doesn’t seem to want to leave. I think it's injured.” He said, “a sea bird?” I said, uh, best word I can come up with at the moment. He took my info and said he’d track down the animal control officer.
About a half hour later she called asking what was going on. She wouldn’t be fooled, though. “Uh, a ‘sea bird?’” she said, asking for if she was white and grey. I said, “Yes!” with a yellow bill, I can sand a picture? She said, “it’s a sea gull.” Feeling more than a tad dumb I said, “Uh, right!”
(Too) Long story short, she said "I have a meeting at 1 but I’ll come over after that. It may have bird flu. Not much I can do but I’ll try to shoo it to the water." I thought about saying I could try to do that but thought better of it. Bird flu just sounds bad.
Before she arrived, I checked the front yard and, of course, the bird had flown the Coop, so to speak.
I looked around the side yards. No gull. I looked out back and my wife was returning from her kayak trip down river and was saying something, but I couldn’t hear her.
Eventually she pointed to the gull standing by her kayak.
How that sick bird with its skinny legs walked all the way around back, I’ll never know. But there she was. Standing now in the back yard.
My wife watched as the gull walked toward the river, and we lost sight of her.
The Animal Control officer arrived and we walked her to where we last saw the bird and had a nice chat about bird flu (did you know it affects their brains?), groundhogs and the various reasons she gets called to a homeowner’s.
My wife explained she believes the bird walked into the river, “just like Virginia Woolf.”
She’s an English Lit major. I’m not, didn’t get the reference.
The Animal Control officer did and they had a nice laugh.
(Ms Woolf put heavy stones in her pockets and drowned herself in the River Ouse in Sussex.)
Life in retirement.
So, I looked again.
This time I saw the bird walking off the porch onto the flat boulder we use as a first step. She was slowly strutting into the front yard. (That's her in the picture on the left.)
I was surprised because typically we see birds like this (white and black feathers, yellow bill) out back, where there also is a beautiful tidal river more accustomed to being the setting for them (well, and other wildlife. Saw a fisher cat there once, not to mention the ground hog that lived under our shed, until we hired a wildlife catcher-guy to trap him so he didn’t burrow all over the place. But that’s another story. So is the five turkeys that were once perched on the shed's roof).
Anyway, I left the bird and went back downstairs to finish reading the morning papers. About an hour later, I went back upstairs to go out and check the mail. And, the bird was still standing -- in the same spot, on the manhole cover that provides access to our septic tank. Now, I’m thinking to myself, “Self, that bird must be injured.” But, her legs looked fine (though thinner than mine even) and her wings looked fine, too.
So, I opened the door to head to the mailbox by the road, thinking the bird would take off when I exited. She didn’t, just standing there, kind of watching me but he also had a distant look in her eye. I walked to the street, pulled out the mail and walked back to the house. She hadn't moved one step.
Now, I’m thinking she must be injured, what do I do? So, I called the police, where, the listing on the interweb said, there also was the Animal Control Officer.
The officer who answered seemed bewildered after I explained, “I have some kind of seabird in my front yard and she doesn’t seem to want to leave. I think it's injured.” He said, “a sea bird?” I said, uh, best word I can come up with at the moment. He took my info and said he’d track down the animal control officer.
About a half hour later she called asking what was going on. She wouldn’t be fooled, though. “Uh, a ‘sea bird?’” she said, asking for if she was white and grey. I said, “Yes!” with a yellow bill, I can sand a picture? She said, “it’s a sea gull.” Feeling more than a tad dumb I said, “Uh, right!”
(Too) Long story short, she said "I have a meeting at 1 but I’ll come over after that. It may have bird flu. Not much I can do but I’ll try to shoo it to the water." I thought about saying I could try to do that but thought better of it. Bird flu just sounds bad.
Before she arrived, I checked the front yard and, of course, the bird had flown the Coop, so to speak.
I looked around the side yards. No gull. I looked out back and my wife was returning from her kayak trip down river and was saying something, but I couldn’t hear her.
Eventually she pointed to the gull standing by her kayak.
How that sick bird with its skinny legs walked all the way around back, I’ll never know. But there she was. Standing now in the back yard.
My wife watched as the gull walked toward the river, and we lost sight of her.
The Animal Control officer arrived and we walked her to where we last saw the bird and had a nice chat about bird flu (did you know it affects their brains?), groundhogs and the various reasons she gets called to a homeowner’s.
My wife explained she believes the bird walked into the river, “just like Virginia Woolf.”
She’s an English Lit major. I’m not, didn’t get the reference.
The Animal Control officer did and they had a nice laugh.
(Ms Woolf put heavy stones in her pockets and drowned herself in the River Ouse in Sussex.)
Life in retirement.
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