We got Cherry blossoms this week! One of the apple trees has blossoms too! (probably too early). Lots and lots of bird action - suddenly stopped.
Looking around, there's a Kestrel hanging out in one of the trees near the house. Good and Bad, good - they hunt mice & rats, bad - you got enough rats & mice it attracts birds like Hawks & Kestrels. While working at the Apartment complex, one morning, this youngster was flopping around on the ground like a fish. Grabbed a box, helped it into it, and brought him into the house.
First lesson, they can bite and take a hunk of glove right out like a scissors. Second lesson, those claws can puncture right through a leather glove with ease.
One of the wings was kinda sticking out to the side, the poor bird couldn't bring it back into it's body. We did that, not sure if we should have, the bird didn't object. OK, what do Kextrel's like to eat? This little guy just hopped around the house, seemed pretty content.
Water, and ground beef... crickets, oh, it liked crickets. Mice - well, we had to draw the line somewhere. We had padded a box with a towel to make a nest, he seemed OK with that. His little head would sort of scrunch into his shoulders, eyes close ... we'd whisper, so he could sleep - that whispering would wake him up.
One morning, we found him on a curtain rod, looking down at us. A-hah! He can fly again! OK... do we just kick him outside after 2 weeks, or ?? Paging through the Yellow Pages, phone book, "Animal Rescue", figured those nice people would know.
After thought... I should have known better. The phone call was threatening me with the full fury of the LAW if I didn't surrender the Kestrel IMMEDIATELY to this couple, like RIGHT NOW! I was ordered to put it in a box and bring it to them for 'rehabilitation' - never should have touched it, should have been smart enough to CALL them first - I was endangering a protected species, blah - blah -blah.
"How about, I open the patio door and let it fly off..?" (you're talking down & so rude to me), "We have your phone number, this is recorded (illegally), we'll send the cops over to ARREST you!" OK, I'd be there in 1/2 an hour, was met with, "You can't come right NOW, it'll have to be TOMORROW." Well, per this lady's tenor, the bird would surely be DEAD by then!
In the morning, there I was, bird-in-the-box, under my arm, ringing the doorbell in an obvious Residential neighborhood. Not the business type building, at all, a Ranch style house, with a garage... figured the other birds were in the garage - was I in for a surprise. The door opened a crack to a middle aged woman, trying to 'shoo away' some critter. She invited me in, her husband busy feeding some critter in the background. Too my horror, all sorts of birds, reptiles & mammals were everywhere, not a cage in site, and feces littering the carpet.
About that time, I'd wish the phone call had never been placed, or we'd just let it go. The little guy must have sensed something, hopping around in the box... I handed off, the guy opens the box wide open, bird hops out and takes to flight immediately! "Well, he's certainly a healthy one, isn't he!" Yeah, I'm thinking, you idiot, that Kestrel is probably gonna be snake vs bird entertainment, or a meal for some other half starved varmint they got crawling all over this living room. Should have just shut up.
After another lecture on why I should never, EVER do that again - came the pitch, how humanitarian they are, rescuing all sorts of innocent creatures, evil mankind... And, then a pitch for MONEY to support their home operation, they're the only ones who know how to properly care for this 'n that - and of course, the Milwaukee Co Zoo, just a few blocks away, tortured animals for fun, starved them, etc., but they needed MY MONEY to care for a bird we'd obviously cared for.
When the guy asked, 'Do you know what kind of bird this is?' 'It's a Kestrel', I replied. 'Oh, pretty little thing, I'd not seen one before..' Time to go, realizing I'd condemned a Kestrel to death... their parting words weren't 'thank you for trying to save the bird', nope, "You really ought to consider the high cost of nursing all these innocent creatures back to health & support us with ..." - door shut, I was outta there.
All I could think of, '..pretty little thing, I'd not seen one before..', all the way home. Stupid of me. I grew up seeing them, over and over. Hovering over the edge of the roadway, like a humming bird, and diving into the tall grass for a mouse. Nearly as common as crows.