Sorry not sorry for the temporary hiatus. For 10 straight days, I was doing nothing but spring cleaning, sorting, arranging, painting and more. I finally have a breather so I can start writing and perhaps start my scheduled posts.
On 14th March 2016, 11 am, while walking towards Jhon's place, I saw a baby bird. I only found out a day later that it was a fledging because it already has its feathers.
I called Jhon up to come over to move it on a grassy patch or a safe place because I am a little icky handling tiny birds. I was waiting patiently until I saw a small swarm of giant red ants underneath and I panicked. The ants were biting and the area was cat infested. I wasn't sure if I should bring the bird home until Mak gave a green light through the phone.
I have no experience in taking care of birds but Mak said, the bird would be probably be dead outside either way from the ants and cats. Even if we were unsuccessful, at least we tried.
We went to my place to keep safe and we continued to our initial plan which was to eat near Jhon's place. Who would've thought on the way back home, I found another fledging! This one clearly older than the first one. We took it too to the first one at my place.
I didn't want to name them. I didn't have intentions to keep them. I want to nurse them and let them fly away on their own as nature intended.
I love to see the both of them nestling up on each other in my make shift cage made up from a box and basket. 2 days later, the older bird flew away while the younger one stayed.
Days passed and the bird was shedding it's baby feathers and grew pretty yellow ones. I finally learned that it's a female pink-necked green pigeon that loves fruits. We fed her cranberries, watermelon, rock melon and her favorite was papaya.
It was difficult at first, I was still scared to touch her but I was lucky Mak wasn't so she would hold her beak to encourage her to open her beak and I would feed her with a chopstick. She grew to be a happy bird. She recognized the chopstick as a mom's beak but mostly, she actually recognized me. If I was nearby, she would try to walk towards me. I can't even speak without her chirping at me. She would tweet non-stop and even wag her little tail up and down. I knew she was growing well and was happy. I eventually named her Tweety.
She wanted to be with me so much that there was one time she attempted to fly towards me but I covered her with a cloth to stop her. I felt bad so I learned to train myself to not be so icky with her. I pet her, touched her and eventually let her sit on my hand with a cloth. I knew I was hooked and it was a dangerous territory because I want her to be free.
2 weeks later, Jhon and I noticed that she was not closing her beak properly. We found out the inside of her beak was swollen. We didn't think much of it because perhaps she accidentally hurt herself while feeding. She did get over excited when she ate papaya and rammed her beak onto the chopstick.
Even with that, she managed to learn to eat all by herself. We were proud. Days passed and Tweety didn't tweet or chirp as much as usual. I knew something was wrong. She looked like she had difficulty breathing, didn't poop the whole day and had teary eyed on the right eye.
[Sun bathing her]
I knew she wouldn't last. I was ready.
By night time, I found her lying down sideways, dead. I wasn't ready after all. I told myself not be attached to her but it turned out she already had touched my heart in ways I didn't expect. Almost embarrassingly, I cried.
My brain knows I am being silly. It's just a random wild pigeon I tried to save and only had it for 2.5 weeks but my heart knows the attachment. I fed, took care, played with this bird every day and she had recognized me as its mom. I can actually tell her where to go and she would followed. I could let her out in the open and she wouldn't fly away, she wouldn't even try.
I feel like this situation sounds dramatic than it should but I don't think I really care. Tweety really deserves a spot on my online journal. I appreciate her presence in my life even if it's for a while.
On 14th March 2016, 11 am, while walking towards Jhon's place, I saw a baby bird. I only found out a day later that it was a fledging because it already has its feathers.
I have no experience in taking care of birds but Mak said, the bird would be probably be dead outside either way from the ants and cats. Even if we were unsuccessful, at least we tried.
We went to my place to keep safe and we continued to our initial plan which was to eat near Jhon's place. Who would've thought on the way back home, I found another fledging! This one clearly older than the first one. We took it too to the first one at my place.
I didn't want to name them. I didn't have intentions to keep them. I want to nurse them and let them fly away on their own as nature intended.
I love to see the both of them nestling up on each other in my make shift cage made up from a box and basket. 2 days later, the older bird flew away while the younger one stayed.
Days passed and the bird was shedding it's baby feathers and grew pretty yellow ones. I finally learned that it's a female pink-necked green pigeon that loves fruits. We fed her cranberries, watermelon, rock melon and her favorite was papaya.
It was difficult at first, I was still scared to touch her but I was lucky Mak wasn't so she would hold her beak to encourage her to open her beak and I would feed her with a chopstick. She grew to be a happy bird. She recognized the chopstick as a mom's beak but mostly, she actually recognized me. If I was nearby, she would try to walk towards me. I can't even speak without her chirping at me. She would tweet non-stop and even wag her little tail up and down. I knew she was growing well and was happy. I eventually named her Tweety.
She wanted to be with me so much that there was one time she attempted to fly towards me but I covered her with a cloth to stop her. I felt bad so I learned to train myself to not be so icky with her. I pet her, touched her and eventually let her sit on my hand with a cloth. I knew I was hooked and it was a dangerous territory because I want her to be free.
2 weeks later, Jhon and I noticed that she was not closing her beak properly. We found out the inside of her beak was swollen. We didn't think much of it because perhaps she accidentally hurt herself while feeding. She did get over excited when she ate papaya and rammed her beak onto the chopstick.
Even with that, she managed to learn to eat all by herself. We were proud. Days passed and Tweety didn't tweet or chirp as much as usual. I knew something was wrong. She looked like she had difficulty breathing, didn't poop the whole day and had teary eyed on the right eye.
I knew she wouldn't last. I was ready.
By night time, I found her lying down sideways, dead. I wasn't ready after all. I told myself not be attached to her but it turned out she already had touched my heart in ways I didn't expect. Almost embarrassingly, I cried.
My brain knows I am being silly. It's just a random wild pigeon I tried to save and only had it for 2.5 weeks but my heart knows the attachment. I fed, took care, played with this bird every day and she had recognized me as its mom. I can actually tell her where to go and she would followed. I could let her out in the open and she wouldn't fly away, she wouldn't even try.
I feel like this situation sounds dramatic than it should but I don't think I really care. Tweety really deserves a spot on my online journal. I appreciate her presence in my life even if it's for a while.
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