Emerald

We found a baby fledgling this morning. 

Our cat was stalking it. We brought it inside in a box. It was unhurt from the looks of it but not ready to fly. It was also beginning to rain so leaving its cowering among some rocks was not a good idea.

Beanie was magnificant. She built a lovely little habitat for Emerald and the little chick was happy, chirping and moving around.

I reached out to some wildlife rehabbers and googled what to feed such small birds. Got some tips from the Internet and we tried soft cat food etc, but no luck.

Then around lunch, Beanie and I went to Petco and bought some worms and a small cage as well.  Benie was home sick today....no fever just a lot of coughing.

 The baby bird was happy enough, chirping away. He even had a little swing Beanie had made. She was trying to feed it and it seems to have had a bit of water and cat food mixed in,

All afternoon I was texting rehabbers who were willing to take it but were 1+ hours away from our location, so not someplace I could easily get to. Local vets were useless.

We went to get some groceries and when we came back around 6pm, Beanie came down distraught since the baby was on its side and clearly not doing well.

Not sure what happened to it in the hour we were gone. The cat did not get to it since she (cat) was locked up in our bedroom.

We held the wee baby until it passed. It was so very sad, Beanie was completely heartbroken. 

Its been a tough evening, but I keep reminding her that she did a beautiful thing of taking in the baby bird and giving it a lovely day.

I privately think our trying to feed it may have been the cause of death, but the rehabbers did say that a bird even if mildly injured by a cat's teeth get some bacteria that can kill it in 12-24 hrs. Our cat had tried to get it last evening around 6pm, but we grabbed the cat and could not see the bird. Beanie saw it from upstairs.

Today we found the baby near our french drain....and then our cat brought anouther dead baby bird so shee seems to have found a nest somewhere.

Anyway I am so proud of Beanie. She too such good care of the bird, and  was so responsible to keep it company. The bird loved sitting on her gloved hand.

I told her she should be proud of giving it so much love and saving it twice.

We buried Emerald in our backyard with some flowers and a small prayer.

RIP sweet baby Emerald.

We will keep ur cat indoors for the next couple of weeks since I cannot keep dealing with all the poor creatures she keeps bring home as presents, and given its the sesaond for baby birds. Most people in our neighbirhood have indoor/outdoor cats, we have about 4-5 wandering around, including ours.