Birds and animals never cease to amaze me. Especially in the bird kingdom seeing that I have had a fear of chickens and birds for years. It has taken me years to get to where I really can be with or near them without fear. Who knows, maybe the day will come when I can enter our chicken pen and not be faced with that fear. But for now I enjoy the smaller birds. Dick and I both love just sitting on the porch and listening and watching them as they go about their day.

We also own cats. You don’t have to be smart to understand the humor there as our cats love to hunt. We have rescued lots of birds right out of their mouths as they try and sneak them into the house. We always are blessed when we have saved one and it can then fly away to resume it’s life in the wild.

A couple years ago was one of those saves but this time not just from the jaws of the cat but from Dick and the mower. I heard an unusual noise coming from the sun room so I went to inspect as our cats have a way of upsetting things as they play and chase an occasional bee that has gotten in. When I enter the room I just stopped. There was a baby robin trying to get into through the screen and my cat was on the inside trying to grab it. I hit panic mode as I knew I couldn’t open the screen and safely grab the bird. So I ran as fast as these old crippled legs could run out the front door, down the stairs and around the house. The bird was a robin and partially feathered out just hadn’t enough feathers to fly yet. Needed a few more days. When I round the house it was gone. I stood and listened for it and then fear struck. I heard it in the pasture not far on the other side of the fence but along with that, Dick was coming that way with the mower and I knew he wouldn’t see it in the tall grass and he’d run over it. I ran through the gate and got on the far side of it and it saw me and began to hop as fast as it could in to the pig pen. Talk about fear. I could just see Damien or Sammy having fresh meat for lunch. But they just stood and watched it has it continued on through their pen. I finally got Dick’s attention and he stopped the mower and came to see what I was doing. I told him about the baby bird and he went after it and finally caught up and picked it up. I thanked him and took it. It was so small and scared. I cuddled it and petted it and assured it we’d do all we could to help. I saw mamma and daddy not far off watching to see what I was going to do.

Now Dick, a couple years ago, nail up a basket on the side of a tree that we use to put some of the birds that are in shock but ok, so they can recover and fly away. I had hoped it might stay there and mamma could feed and care for it. But it had better ideas and hopped out and to the ground. I followed behind as mamma began to call to it. It would stop and just look at me and then hop on. Then it made it to the edge of the pasture where the weeds were high against the fence. Mamma began to gather a few worms and take it to it one at a time. I also knew there was a hole in the bottom of the old oak stump where it was hiding in the grass. I sat on the porch and watched it and mamma and daddy care for it. But also astounding was the fact that two finches came and helped to stand guard of it while mamma and daddy went worm hunting.

As evening fell, I went in praying that God would care for it and keep it safe. Next day I watched again as mamma fed it and it would then run back inside the old tree stump. About four days went by and I saw it in the yard and it flew up onto the fence. It was still alive. It looked my direction but just sat there and wasn’t afraid of me. I saw it off and on during that day. Then two days ago it was flying really good. But here is the heartwarming part of it all.
It landed in the yard as I stood on the porch and I began to talk to it. It hopped towards my voice and looked up from the ground and was really close to the porch. Then it flew away to the fence. Today as Dick and I sat on the porch listening and watching the birds, here it comes and landed just maybe 4 feet from the porch and chirps at us. Then mamma came and landed right beside it and just looked at us and then slowly hopped away and the baby followed. I got the feeling it knew we meant no harm. What a blessing that was. Never under estimate the beauty of nature. It is one of God’s most beautiful part of creation.