The Sparrow

I came home for lunch one day this week and found this little guy on the front doorstep. He must have stunned himself, by flying into the storm door window. Anne was standing guard over him and had set up some food and water. The light from my camera’s range finder triggered his reaction. I think that he expected to be fed by me. Anne got a box and lid, scooped him up and then took him around back to be released back into the wild. I had to get back to work, but she emailed be the end of this story:

I found a nice shady spot at the edge of the ivy. I sort of tipped the bird out, and it immediately hopped on top of the ivy, then it hopped onto a day lily leaf. Then it flew up towards my shoulder, surprising me. But instead of landing on my shoulder, it kept on flying and flew over the peak of the garage. I couldn’t see where it landed, but it clearly had more chops at flying then it was showing on the porch. Glad the Alpha Predator is gone.

The Alpha Predator was a neighbor’s cat. The owner himself dubbed him that. He was the death of more than a few birds in our yard and I took every opportunity to scare it back home, across the street. That neighbor moved on and took the cat with him, where it is surely terrorizing its new neighborhood. I doubt this baby sparrow would have survived if that cat was still around.