Bogart Fledgling

by Anna Houston
(Reading,PA)

The Encounter:
I was walking through my kitchen this morning And saw my new kitten "Bogart" out on the doormat. I also saw that he was pawing at a little flapping fledgling.

It always annoys me when the cats get birds, since they're domestic and eat cat food they never actually eat the birds they just end up injuring them and basically playing with them till they stop flopping.

So I went outside and ran after the cat with the bird in his mouth and finally caught him midway across the front yard and made him surrender the bird.

The Assessment:
I brought the bird inside to have a look at him and see how badly he was injured. He was flapping a bit and it looked like his wings were in good working order, and I found no blood or open wounds anywhere.

His one foot was bent the wrong way, but the way he moved it and by the looks of it, it may have been an older injury. Other than that he just looked wet and terrified.

Course of Action:
Yes it is always so tempting to want to keep and take care of the little bird. However growing up with my mother, who worked at a couple of nature centers and has dealt with injured birds before, I knew that I had to get it back outside and on its own A.S.A.P.

The bird was not flying very well at the moment and the stress from the cat and I'm sure from me picking it up had it fairly exhausted, and I knew my cat would have it back in a few seconds if I just stuck him outside right away.

I decided to put the bird in a shoebox and set him in my room with the lights out so that he could rest in a quiet spot and have some time to dry off.

I kept the door closed and I left the room as well since I'm sure that my presence would no doubt continue to stress him.

The Result:
After about 30 minutes I checked on him, he seemed calmer and was now much dryer(I could now tell the was a Black-capped Chickadee)and had actually gotten out of the box.

I placed him back into the box and took him outside after locking the cats inside and went to our bird feeder.

I thought that if the parents were around anywhere they would be out there. I opened the box under the tree and he just looked at me for a few seconds, then flew out of the box and perched one legged on a tiny branch, looking ruffled but happy to be up in a tree and out the way of the cats.

I wished him luck and came inside, and now I will keep a look out for a one legged chickadee when I watch the birds at our feeder.