This morning I was sitting in bed at the computer going about my normal everyday business when I heard a soft whirring sound and a flicker of movement caught my eye. It was a bird! A little wren (I think) had managed to come inside and was perched next to my bed, observing me inquisitively.
What a beautiful creature.
Once I recovered from my initial surprise the first thing I did was snap some (very low quality) pictures with my cell phone. I was going to capture it before releasing, but the bird wasn't too fond of that idea and I became concerned about tiring it, so finally I just opened the door. It hesitated, and I reached out...
The wren flew over and perched on my hand for a brief moment, looked around once more, and then, with a flit of its wings, was gone to freedom.
A few hours later in an unrelated task I went to unseal the door of my bathroom. You see, I had been doing an ozone treatment, which is where such a high concentration of ozone is generated that it's actually lethal to all living things. It's very helpful for killing mold, dust mites, and for oxidizing chemicals to make items "outgas" at an accelerated rate, but great care must be taken to ensure that it is done safely. With the help of my caretaker I had placed all the chemical-y things in my bathroom, the ozone generator had been turned on and the door quickly shut and sealed off all around. 24 hours later I was confident it was safe to enter.
What I found first perplexed, then concerned, then saddened me deeply: bird poop all over the floor. How in the world...? My thoughts were all over the place. Ozone is a potent gas that I'm quite sensitive to - if there had been any gaps from my bathroom into my living area I would have known it right away. And yet I could not dispute the obvious evidence that a bird had indeed been trapped in the room.
My spirit fell with the realization of what that must mean, and I trepidatiously began a methodical search for the small body.
Suddenly another thought hit me: the nesting spot! Last year a wren had raised her brood in a small exterior-interior hole in the wall used as a pass-through for electrical hookup (I live in an RV trailer). I enjoyed their presence and had been hoping the site would be chosen again this year. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach - we had taped over that hole from the outside while the ozone ran.
I felt sick.
I had to know for sure.
Without thinking, I stumbled outside and made my way over to the area. Kneeling down, I gently removed the tape from over the hole and was dismayed to see a new nest rebuilt from last year's creation, which had been partially removed. Unable to see inside without a flashlight, I reached in with two fingers, fearing what I'd discover but unable to stop myself...
There was a sudden burst of movement as a bird flew up in my face, perched on a nearby tree branch and began scolding me, angry as all get-out!
I fell backwards with a startled yelp, and then, stunned, looked from bird to nest to bird again, hardly able to believe what I was seeing. An immense sensation of relief washed over me (as I suspect my readers just experienced a taste of...sorry for the suspense but had to do it
) and I hurried indoors to get out of mamma bird's way. Only then that I began to laugh - what an experience.
I think I've pieced together what happened: The hole was only partially covered with tape, and enough fresh air must have come through for the bird to survive the initial ozone exposure, but it was still unable to leave on the exterior side. So it made its way out in the only direction it could, which was into my bathroom, where it would have found ample water from my toilet to drink. Good thing, too, because temperatures soared so high that the door was warm to the touch. I had actually been planning to shut off the water and have the toilet dry for the duration of treatment to kill any bacteria there, but in the end decided it wasn't important. If I had done so I'm fairly certain this fragile little animal would not have survived.
The Bible says that God cares for the birds, and that not even a single sparrow falls to the ground without Him knowing of it. I'm so thankful for that voice influencing me to leave the toilet full of water behind, which provided this little wren with the necessary hydration and saved me much sadness.
And now I get to look forward to the eggs hatching and hearing those tiny babies begging to be fed umpteen times a day. It was such a joy last year and I can't wait! Because the mother bird is okay I am fairly certain the eggs are too. I don't know how many there are and I don't plan on finding out because I'd rather not disturb them any further, but I should have a rough idea soon enough when they emerge based on the cheeping I hear.
What a blessing!
What a beautiful creature.
Once I recovered from my initial surprise the first thing I did was snap some (very low quality) pictures with my cell phone. I was going to capture it before releasing, but the bird wasn't too fond of that idea and I became concerned about tiring it, so finally I just opened the door. It hesitated, and I reached out...
The wren flew over and perched on my hand for a brief moment, looked around once more, and then, with a flit of its wings, was gone to freedom.
It took my breath away,
Like a kiss from heaven.
***
Like a kiss from heaven.
***
A few hours later in an unrelated task I went to unseal the door of my bathroom. You see, I had been doing an ozone treatment, which is where such a high concentration of ozone is generated that it's actually lethal to all living things. It's very helpful for killing mold, dust mites, and for oxidizing chemicals to make items "outgas" at an accelerated rate, but great care must be taken to ensure that it is done safely. With the help of my caretaker I had placed all the chemical-y things in my bathroom, the ozone generator had been turned on and the door quickly shut and sealed off all around. 24 hours later I was confident it was safe to enter.
What I found first perplexed, then concerned, then saddened me deeply: bird poop all over the floor. How in the world...? My thoughts were all over the place. Ozone is a potent gas that I'm quite sensitive to - if there had been any gaps from my bathroom into my living area I would have known it right away. And yet I could not dispute the obvious evidence that a bird had indeed been trapped in the room.
My spirit fell with the realization of what that must mean, and I trepidatiously began a methodical search for the small body.
Suddenly another thought hit me: the nesting spot! Last year a wren had raised her brood in a small exterior-interior hole in the wall used as a pass-through for electrical hookup (I live in an RV trailer). I enjoyed their presence and had been hoping the site would be chosen again this year. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach - we had taped over that hole from the outside while the ozone ran.
I felt sick.
I had to know for sure.
Without thinking, I stumbled outside and made my way over to the area. Kneeling down, I gently removed the tape from over the hole and was dismayed to see a new nest rebuilt from last year's creation, which had been partially removed. Unable to see inside without a flashlight, I reached in with two fingers, fearing what I'd discover but unable to stop myself...
There was a sudden burst of movement as a bird flew up in my face, perched on a nearby tree branch and began scolding me, angry as all get-out!
I fell backwards with a startled yelp, and then, stunned, looked from bird to nest to bird again, hardly able to believe what I was seeing. An immense sensation of relief washed over me (as I suspect my readers just experienced a taste of...sorry for the suspense but had to do it
) and I hurried indoors to get out of mamma bird's way. Only then that I began to laugh - what an experience.***
I think I've pieced together what happened: The hole was only partially covered with tape, and enough fresh air must have come through for the bird to survive the initial ozone exposure, but it was still unable to leave on the exterior side. So it made its way out in the only direction it could, which was into my bathroom, where it would have found ample water from my toilet to drink. Good thing, too, because temperatures soared so high that the door was warm to the touch. I had actually been planning to shut off the water and have the toilet dry for the duration of treatment to kill any bacteria there, but in the end decided it wasn't important. If I had done so I'm fairly certain this fragile little animal would not have survived.
The Bible says that God cares for the birds, and that not even a single sparrow falls to the ground without Him knowing of it. I'm so thankful for that voice influencing me to leave the toilet full of water behind, which provided this little wren with the necessary hydration and saved me much sadness.
And now I get to look forward to the eggs hatching and hearing those tiny babies begging to be fed umpteen times a day.
It was such a joy last year and I can't wait! Because the mother bird is okay I am fairly certain the eggs are too. I don't know how many there are and I don't plan on finding out because I'd rather not disturb them any further, but I should have a rough idea soon enough when they emerge based on the cheeping I hear.What a blessing!
