Baby Bird

Posted on July 5, 2004 in Creatures Nature Neighborhood

I’m trying to think what to make of the young house finch we saw outside Natraj Indian restaurant on Saturday night. He had a tuft of hair aligned like a gunsight at the back of his beak. I first saw him when a pair of diners caused him to fly up into the mouth of a garbage can. When we got up from our table, he fell over into the garbage can. I walked over, took off the cover, and pulled him out using a styrofoam cup. He kept jumping out of the cup, back into the plastic until I managed to get the cup covered.

I released him on a nearby pillar. He hopped across the ledge and then flew onto a table next to the entrance to the restaurant. We left him, knowing that there could be no rescue by us.

Oh little fellow. The world waits to eat you.

It’s such a maudlin story, isn’t it?