Yesterday evening George was walking from the deck to the garage and he stepped back suddenly and exclaimed, "look at this!". There, sitting on the driveway like fat blue puffball was a baby Blue Jay. He was just frozen and sat there. George said he almost stepped on him. Neither of us wanted to go indoors, because we were ready to spring in case a cat happened by. Our yard is a kind of cat highway, as I imagine all yards are. There are few places that cats don't know about.
At first we thought he might be hurt, but gradually he relaxed enough to hop a little and eat some seeds. Neither of us remembers seeing anything that looked quite so pathetic. He just didn't have a clue. He hopped a little more right over to the edge of the woody area where the cats would lie in wait. We imagined a blue feathered disaster right before our eyes.
We stayed on the deck and watched out for him as I went in and out cooking our dinner. The other birds at the birdfeeder would come and go, but you could tell they were curious about that little puffball fellow too. Finally, finally, Mommy Blue Jay showed up and we stayed inside to watch the drama through the window. She went to him, ate a few seeds herself, and then stayed right next to him talking him out of his fear, probablying coax him to take a chance at flying up to a limb. By this time, our shrimp was cooked, and our hunger brought us to curtain time on this drama. Our part of baby watch anc cat patrol seemed to have ended.
Nothing looks quite so helpless as a baby bird leaving the nest for the first time. George told me that he read that when baby eagles fly off the nest for the first time, sometimes they actually walk back. A funny thought. Good luck baby bird!
The weather today is glorious, I slept until almost nine o'clock and we intend just to let the day unfold.
Have a lovely holiday day.
