OPERATION CHICKADEE

A nice gentleman stopped by the school today to tell us a baby bird was lying in the middle of the parking lot. Not sure why he picked us, maybe the word Garden and butterfly pics on the wall lead him over. Anyway, Lindsay and I went out to see.....

So Ms. Lindsay and I went out and saw the baby lying on the pavement.  One of our lovely parents noticed us and came over to see what was going on.  The mom had some experience with birds since her dad raised abandoned birds.  The myth is if the bird or egg is touched the parents will not come back.  I didn't know much about my favorite birds, chickadees.  The kind mom brought the baby bird back to the school, her child was already forming a bond with the bird.  We found a box and placed it on some tissues.  Thank goodness for Internet access on phones and Google!  The dad suggested we Google what to do.  I did.  I read that parents abandoning the baby is a myth.  So, we took the baby back out to the shrubbery and found out there was another chick lying on the ground in its nest.  It was such a tiny nest too!  It barely fit the two chicks.  The nest was about the size of my palm  We were back in forth about where to lay the nest.  While all this was going on, the birds' parents were hustling about trying to find their babies.  We found a safe branch that wouldn't allow too much rain to fall through and laid the nest on top.  We waited a few minutes and sure enough the parents found their babies and resumed feeding them.  All was well, except for our little student who was sad to leave the chick :-(  

What a great learning experience.  Chickadee parents do not abandon their babies after being touched by humans.  Preschool Mythbusters, perhaps?  LOL  Funny thing, last week a parent mentioned something about never seeing bird nests around.  My response, "They're hiding in trees."  It would be easy to miss a nest like the one we found today. What a wonderful experience.  Pretty soon we'll be an animal rescue school. 

I heard there are some baby snakes that just hatched in the complex.  Looks like we'll be having a look.  That little spot that we are in is thriving with wildlife.  This week we have seen three bald eagles (baby included), a long red lizard(we got our field guide out to check), and an array of ant species. 

I love nature!

The nest and chick we found.

The nest.

chicks

mama bird looking for food after she located the new nest spot.

papa bird keeping watch

mama bird feeding the babies