Mini Muxxes Learn a Life Lesson

Blackbird chick   Source

As a parent I take my responsibilities seriously when teaching my children the way of the world and to be decent people. I have a son aged eleven and a daughter aged six. Like most children they are fascinated by animals and, if they had their way, our house would be full of then. Currently we have seven fish, a dog, a cat and a tortoise. Both my children also want a bird to care for but I have thus far been able to put them off the idea: my mum used to keep birds and they are frankly annoying, making much mess and incessant noise.

While the children were still at school this afternoon my significant other was tidying up the garden in preparation for an expected heatwave. She became aware of much chirping and squawking and upon investigation found a young blackbird in a panic: it had fallen from its nest. The distress shown by the chick was echoed by its parents who swooped and squawked in response.

Female blackbird   Source

As we have a cat we first made sure he was locked in the house. He is quite fond of birds, but in the same way cats are also fond of mice. The last thing we wanted was for him to make a meal of the chick. We have a cage we use to keep the tortoise outside in good weather so we filled a corner with straw and created a hidey hole for its new temporary resident. We caught the chick and put him in protective custody.

An hour later the children were back from school and were both excited to see their new 'pet'. I explained to them that it was a temporary measure to look after the chick until we could release him safely. We showed them its parents still flying from tree to tree looking for him. At one point we watched as both parents chased off some passing seagulls.

We gently opened the cage and I softly cupped the young bird in my hands, transporting it to the top of the garden shed. I stepped back with the children and we sat down, watching as the mother blackbird came ever closer to her chirping chick. Luckily the youngster was old enough to be able to make short flights and eventually his mum coaxed him to follow her first to the lower branches and finally back up to the nest.

My daughter was literally crying watching all this, not because she lost a 'pet', but because we had helped a helpless animal reunite with its mother.

I guess we could have just let mother nature take its course, but I am glad we could firstly help this blackbird family, and also teach my own young family about humanity towards other species.

Naturally, they want a true pet bird now...sigh

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