personal journey

Giving nature a fighting chance (I hope)

Saving a life(hopefully)

Sometimes things happen that stay with you for a while and it doesn't matter how insignificant they might be, they stay.
This weekend something happened that might stay with me for a bit. And also makes you feel humbled a bit as well.
We might be big and strong human beings and we might be protected from the moment of birth, but not all living things on this planet are that lucky.

When going out for the final walk with my 2 dogs I saw something on the middle of the road when I walked out of the street I live in.
At first I didn't think anything of it but when I got closer I couldn't take my eyes of it.

The dogs heard something coming from the direction of where the thing was and started to curiously come closer every so slowly.

When my own curiosity peaked I pulled out my phone and turned on the flashlight.
Shining the light on the strange thing on the road I was surprised it was a small baby bird.
At first I just hoped that the bird was scared and didn't move so I looked at it while the dogs tried to explorer what it was. (of course I had the leash tight so they wouldn't do anything. They were really nice for the little birdy)
So I kept walking but saw that it wasn't moving from its place in the center gutter of the road.

Now, I know the road is big enough for 2 cars to pass each other comfortably but I also know, from personal experience, the left or right tires when nobody is on the road is often rolling along that gutter.

While the dogs where doing their thing near a tree we always go to, I kept looking to see if the little birdy moved at all.
Sadly it didn't and I started to get worried.

Should I move it? But what about its mother? Should I take care of it? No I couldn't do that. But what if it stays there?
Knowing I would be driving this road the next day I would never in my life forgive myself if I would see it dead in the place I left it.

After some thinking I did what I could to help the poor thing.
Went he pooches were done I walked back to the bird and the dogs again were very interested.
That is when the bird tried to ... run away, I guess. It tried to move and flap its small wings but it has not yet the capacity to fly and walking was also far from being anything to save himself. It jumped in sort of the direction away from me but it stumbled and sometimes lay there on the ground like it was in some sort of panic and it lay there out of breath.

I was hoping it would stumble itself into a nearby bush but it didn't and it went onto a crossing.
That was the moment I pulled off my jacked, cupped my hands in it and picked up the bird.

At first it struggled a little bit but then it stopped. At first I worried that I did something wrong but I heard the soft chirps of a the little baby bird coming from my cupped hands.

I walked to a grass field with a large bush along the side and picked a spot with an opening at the side to place it. At first I tried looking at nearby tries if I could find a nest. That way I could place the bird near its nest but sadly I couldn't find it. So chose a a location as far away from the road as I possibly could.

When I got to location I lowered the little sweety and opened my still cupped hands and anticipated it would jump out of my hand right away and stumble into the bush or at least stay right next to it in the tall grass.

But that didn't happen.
It stayed in my hand and as much as I wanted to push it out, it kept crawling back in. This was tugging my heartstrings now. How could a little bird that was so scared just a min ago, be wanting the protection and warmth of my hand.
I knew I couldn't take care if the little thing nor did I want to take it out its natural environment.
Sadly I realized that the chances of the little thing surviving the night or the next few days, under the shade of the bush or not, were really slim.

Eventually I did push him out of my hand and, for everything that is holy, hoped it wouldn't chase me. That would probably make me tear up.
Even thought that didn't not happen, the view of the little thing in the tall grass next to the bush looking at me and softly chirping didn't help my building feeling of guilt either.

I do believe I did the right thing thought cause nature is hard.
This wasn't and won't be the last little birdy falling out of the nest. But I like to think I at least give this little one a bit more of a fighting chance.

I have no clue where he is right now.
I didn't really go back to check either, knowing he most likely is somewhere else now.
But wherever he is, I hope he is being the little bird that he should be