Are You My Mother?

Nature is truly amazing. Phoebe and Sam discovered this little guy (a baby cardinal) balancing on a branch of a rhododendrum bush that borders my terrace. I had no idea what they were busy sniffing until I saw this little guy shivering with fright. He looked to be OK--no broken wings or anything--just a relatively young thing still getting the hang of flying.

First order of business was to convince the dogs that treats were better than a bird--actually pretty easy to do for goldens. I wooed them to another area of the yard and then watched Mother Nature go to work.

Within two minutes, the mother cardinal had swooped in and was working her way down the branches of the bush. Not too far away, the siblings were doing a lot of chirping--maybe to distract all of us--and pretty soon, the mother had urged the young'un to abandon his branch.



Which is how he found his way to this damp puddle in the middle of the terrace--very exposed to snouts of two goldens. Amos, by the way, was uninterested. Since I was sweeping another area of the terrace, I simply shooed the dogs away with a broom, which actually encouraged the baby bird to try and fly up. He could indeed fly, but not high enough to escape the sunken terrace.

The broom prompted the mother bird to begin dive bombing both the dogs and me--she swooped in so fast we never saw her coming--which accomplished the task of getting the baby to move closer to the steps, where he eventually worked his way out of the terrace through a combination of flying a hopping.

Meanwhile my backyard looked like a bird sanctuary. I have never seen so many birds, cardinals and otherwise, flocking to assist. Eventually the bird made it to shelter in another clump of bushes. The mother hovered nearby and I took the dogs inside to see if the baby would ultimately fly away.

Things quieted down and I think the baby figured it out. All of which goes to show you just how strong that maternal instinct is. And how easily golden retrievers can be swayed by food. . .