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April 18, 2007

Collisions with Nature

Last night was a pretty rough night for us starting at about 6:30 pm. That was when we found a bird's nest on the ground next to my garden and 2 broken eggs. It would've been sad enough had it just naturally occurred, but its even worse because we are partly to blame. The nest was in a tree/bush that we had significantly trimmed so that my garden could get sunlight. We knew the nest was there (although we were unaware there were eggs) and were careful not to cut the branches the nest was on. Unfortunately, the next day there were 40+ mph winds and must've blown the nest out. This wouldn't have happened if we hadn't cut branches that were protecting it from the wind. I was heart-broken and still almost sick to think about a mama bird flying around having lost her babies.
Our night was not over however, and I thought God ordained a way for us to repay nature last night when on our walk we found a baby squirrel. The little thing (about 4-5" long, minus tail) had just finished crossing the street. It did not scurry off when Owen went up to it, and as we were leaving, IT FOLLOWED US, just like a stray dog. I cannot describe how cute it was to see this tiny thing scurrying behind us. We didn't see any other squirrels around, and it was a high-traffic area known to have owls, and it was about dusk (and again, I saw this as our dues to mother earth). So Duffy scooped up little "Acorn" in his shirt and carried him home. Almost immediately he curled up in a little ball and fell asleep as Duff was carrying him. At home, the kids and Duffy watched it in the backyard while I googled "Caring for a baby squirrel." We ended up making a little bed for him in Owen's plastic house and gave it broccoli and water. Tonight we will be bringing Acorn to a wildlife rehabber.
Well, we would've broke even with that, but again, our night was not over. As Duffy was putting the kids to bed, I went to work cleaning the kitchen. I was in there for about 2 seconds, when I heard a noise on top of the cupboard. * Note= last week we put a glueboard trap on top of the cupboard because we were a little suspicious of critter activity* I got Duff and waited in the other room while he checked it out. I heard, "Whew. Okay. Okay." and then a shudder. He came and told me that a BIRD was stuck on the glueboard...really stuck. Apparently the bird got in through our messed up screen door which has a 2 inch gap at the bottom. I went to google again to see how to get an animal off a supposedly-humane gluetrap, as I knew it has something to do with soaking it in oil. Turns out that glueboards are actually the least-humane because if someone actually does get an animal off, the oil can leave irreversible damage. **Note again, this glueboard was left over from when we lived in the duplex and had a critter issue and I didn't want to find squished mouse. ** Duffy made the tough decision that the best of the worst things to do was to suffocate it in a bag. Incredibly sad. I don't think I will quickly shake this instance or the mama bird's eggs. I'm surprised I slept okay last night. It all makes you think about how much harm we do do, and how to make it right. I just can't actually believe this all happened in about 3 hours time.
Here is a picture of Acorn for you.

| By amy | 07:37 AM

Comments

Posted by: lynnp at April 18, 2007 06:15 PM

Posted by: andyp at April 18, 2007 08:00 PM

Posted by: lynnp at April 19, 2007 06:03 PM

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