If you know anything about catbirds swooping down on people and dogs, please stop here

[Samantha]

50. I listened to the whole video

Last edited Sat Jun 2, 2012, 12:14 AM - Edit history (1)

But I was really focused on the picture, thinking those are definitely the birds in my yard. I noticed the striking white streaks on the birds' wings right away.

One of the things I did not mention when I posted this thread is that two days before all of the antics broke out, I was in the front yard mowing the lawn with my sunglasses on. Suddenly, a couple of feet in front of me on the edge of the yard, I saw an usual brown "bump" on the grass. I couldn't imagine what it was. As I approached the spot, it suddenly hit me it was a baby bird. I let go of the lawn mower handle right away, and approached the spot quickly. It was in fact a baby bird, but it was not moving. Its beak was pointed straight up the air. Because of the heat, I thought I should try to drop some water into the beak; perhaps the heat had stopped the baby bird in its tracks -- it was dying (or had died) of thirst. I ran and got some water and started dropping small amounts into the bird's peak. It moved just a little. I dropped some more. It moved even more. I dropped some (just a little) on the bird's back, wondering it the little guy (or girl) was dehydrated. Then I put a few more drops into the beak. Now the bird was definitely moving and distinctly alive.

One of the pictures in your video of a baby bird looked exactly like that baby bird!

I ran to a neighbor's house to ask for help. I had no idea what to do next. I had heard, as has been mentioned on this thread, the notion that if human hands touched a bird, the parents would no longer have anything to do with it. I now know that isn't true -- but not then.

The first neighbor brushed me off saying the mother had probably pushed the baby bird out. I said, "Well, I can't just do nothing." I then went to another neighbor's house. He was leaving but said over his shoulder he didn't know anything about birds but he could do some research on the net when he came back.

I went to a third neighbor's house and begged, "Please help me. I found a baby bird that I thought was dead, but after giving it some water, it is moving around. I have no idea what to do now. Can you come down and take a look?" And so she did. She said we should put the baby back under the bushes, the mother would hear it chirping and feed it. And so she picked it up, put it under the bushes, I put a water dish next to it, and so we waited. Pretty soon, that little bird was walking around as if nothing happened. I was so happy.

Low and behold, an hour or so later I went out to check on it. It was at the lawn's edge getting ready to cross into the next-door-neighbor's yard. I was very concerned one of the cats would have the baby bird for lunch. So I ran to another neighbor's house. This neighbor came down, picked up the bird, saying we have to find the nest. It is probably in one of those five bushes, I told him. He found it in the second bush in which he looked, and he gingerly placed the baby back in the nest. There were two others in there.

So once again, I was happy, thinking all is right in the world and I finished the lawn.

Since all this commotion has broken out, I wonder if that mother had pushed that bird out of the nest for some reason and was ticked off to find it right back there. The bird we returned to the nest was larger than the other remaining two, and there was hardly room for all three.

What do you think?

And thanks again for posting this video. I will try to open my window tonight at 10:00.

Sam