( click to enlarge photo, Do you know what kind of bird she is??)If you are very sensitive and your heart breaks easily... You may not want to read this post.
Yesterday Morning as usual, I sat outside, quietly having my morning coffee. I noticed a bird fluttering down near where my dog was standing and The silence of the morning was instantly broken. I jumped up to see what was going on. My dog was trying to paw and nudge a baby bird. The birds poor mother was franticly screeching and swooping. I screamed for Cosmo to stop. He backed away from the poor little bird. Sadly, It was too late, he was gone. I assumed he must have fallen from his nest but I later observed that the nest is not near where the poor little bird died so I know he didn't fall. Maybe he was just beginning to learn to fly and fluttered downward Unaware that there was a schnoodle standing by and waiting for any kind of excitement. Cosmo has been standing in this area for many hours each day. There are baby rabbits living in between my section of fence and my neighbors. It appears that these neighbors have a berm in their back yard against the fence, making a perfect habitat for nesting animals ( Happy it's rabbits and not rats, I wish they would clean up their yard.)
The poor mother bird did NOT stop screeching, She nervously flew down to inspect her baby. Then she flew on top of the playhouse above her poor baby and screeched. She flew back and forth all day. In between digging for worms for her babies and her nest, she flew the shortcut to the playhouse. It was so apparent that she was mourning. It is So apparent that she is screaming with grief, that I cried along with her. I feel so sorry for her. This morning she was there again. Back and forth and to the exact spot he had died.
At one point this morning, she and several of her friends were screeching and swooping down near cosmo. I really believed they had a plan to gang up and peck the heck out of him. This may be an inappropriate feeling but I wish they would have found the courage to at least give him one slap with their wing. ( I am still so angry at him.)
I know it's an innate instinct for a dog, especially one with terrier blood, to 'hunt' for animals. he is really a gentle dog and the way he wags his tail waiting by the fence hoping these bunnies will appear, shows me he wants to play with them NOT eat them. I guess you could say this was a circumstance of the cruel but natural order of nature.
I know he wasn't trying to hurt that poor baby bird. He wanted to play with it. It doesn't make her grief any less. This morning I captured some pictures of her. I wish I knew what type of bird she is. I wish i could ease her pain, I wish I could help her protect her other babies. I hear her screeching so loudly any time a squirrel is near the nest. I really really am so sorry she lost her little one. I just know tomorrow morning, she will return to her babies last spot and she will break my heart again.
(to the right of cosmo is where the baby landed. To his left is the fence that cradles baby rabbits.
He doesn't leave this spot )
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12 comments:
I wish I knew what kind of bird it is. Poor mommy bird! That is sad, but you can't be mad at Cosmo. Like you said, he's doing what a dog's instincts say to do.
In that picture Cosmos reminds me of my childhood dog Whiskers.That wired haired terrier was such a love bug, but also a true boy!
Those days dogs wandered the neighborhood, a mean man shot his hip with a bee bee gun!
Just goes to show across the universe when mother loses her baby she is sadly never the same again! Poor birdy. Cosmos is just doing what he does best to the detriment of the poor bird. I need to ponder this a little more....because really the dog didn't know better, but there is a lesson here somewhere!
You need this like a hole in the head!! Wishing you love!
Hugs Giggles
you are so right in projecting he didn't mean it.. he just wanted some fun.. still does.. that's why he is hanging out...
poor mommy bird,, i know she is heartbroken,, and i wonder if she knows why,, or if she is still waiting for her babies return.......
:( poor mamma bird, this was so heartbreaking to read but it really wasn't cosmos fault either ... things happen because they happen. sigh. hugs you!!
i had a similar experience two years ago so i know how you feel. i cut down a dead tree in front of my house that i didn't know was the home of baby birds. when the tree was downed and mama bird came back looking for the tree with worms in her mouth, left and right, left and right she kept looking, totally confused, i broke down and cried. i sobbed, bawled like i had just lost a member of my family. and i continued crying for days. my heart broke seeing that poor bird looking for her hatchlings. i swore then i'd never cut down another tree, even if it was dead; let nature take care of it.
i feel horrible for this poor mama bird, but your doggie didn't mean harm. he was just being himself.
i wonder how many poor little birds don't make it...oh, now i'm sad again...*sigh*
hey lovely lady! I've been away, but I'm BACK now and finally getting to catch up on blog world - so excited to stop by here and read what you wrote and BOOM you make me CRY sheer floods of sadness -- almost as bad as when i saw the BUcket list!!! My dog just met a baby kitten for the first time and I was in sheer terror of how he would react but he licked the kitten to a slobbery mess!! It was I'm sure an innocent Cosmo act - perhaps the bird was injured...but the sad part is not this act but the mother searching for her babe...oh man you got me right in the soft spot...
My 3ww post is called Growing an Ocean's Tail... let me know what you think...
Sadly, at the end of the day, nature is nature. But sometimes it is hard to take.
It reminds me of the book Of Mice and Men where Lenny loves the rabbits so much that he pets them to death. Lenny has no comprehension of his own strength. Cosmos might just have wanted to play with the baby bird not understanding the size difference. :o(
In answer to your question, all the murals are in Athens, Georgia. I've lived here for three years and am still finding new things that make this city absolutely fantastic!
This is so incredibly sad. I know how you feel. I too feel the pain of animals and share it with them.
Beautifully, sensitively written.
Oh the poor mama bird :-/
Lucy,
I bet that made your week. Nature is harsh at times but it's hard to witness. He may have died from the fall and Cosmo was comforting him so he wouldn't die alone.
HUGS Luc
This is life...
long and short of it
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