Baby Bird

The last few days here in Trinidad have been overcast, with bursts of rain on and off. I'm sure this would get old eventually, but for now I love it. There is nothing quite like being safe inside on a rainy day. It means reading books, drawing pictures, watching cricket (if you are Subash) without feeling like you are missing something. 

We stopped at a small convenience store ("Stop buy!" painted on the wall outside) to get some instant coffee and some sweetened condensed milk ("Moo!" brand).

On the way home cutting through a small park there was a commotion. A group of Carib grackles in a squat little tree causing a fuss. On the ground near the tree a small baby bird shivered in the grass, I assume knocked out of the tree in the recent cloud burst. It was in that sort of ugly stage baby birds go through between having down and having real feathers, and it peeped out a sad little cry.

There are arguments to be made for letting nature run its course. For all I know the birds kicked it out of the tree themselves for some good reason. But how can you leave a poor baby out in the cold? 

As soon as I picked up the baby the grackles in the tree freaked, calling out loudly and flying back and forth between branches. I searched for a nest but couldn't see one. I was afraid to hold the baby for too long, as I read somewhere (I think?) that if the bird smells too much like human the adults won't take care of it any more. Even as it is I'm not sure I actually helped matters.

The baby bit at my hand with its poor baby beak, which felt oddly sweet instead of hurting. Since I couldn't find an actual nest to put the baby back in I climbed up the tree slightly looking for a place to put it where it at least wouldn't be on the ground. I finally found a little nook between branches that seemed safe and a little protected from the weather, and placed it there.

I don't know if it made any difference. Possibly the baby was lost as soon as it fell. Possibly I made things worse by getting involved. With nature it is hard to ever be sure. Did I do something good? Will the other birds take care of it in its new little nook, or will they let it starve? Something worse? Is it wrong to choose the baby bird over whatever creature would have been able to live by eating it?

On the other hand, look at this face and tell me you could leave it behind.

The question now is, the next time we go by the tree, should I look? 

...........

Art.

Thoughts.

I tried to capture the feeling of it being nestled in the tree, although I didn't quite succeed. The bird it too big compared to the page for that, I see now. I used pens, pictures of green and brown and palms fronds from a magazine, and a pieces of a black plastic bag for the bird's body. I like this sort of mixed media method, especially using materials related to the trip or the event itself. In this case, the black plastic bag is from the bag our groceries were carried in on the way back from the store when we found this bird.