I Know For Whom the Female Cardinal Sings

Yet another amazing bird rescue!

It was morning. My husband and I heard a loud THUNK as a bird hit the glass of the living room window. Oh no! My husband, knowing the neighbor cat, LGK, was on the porch (the cat showed up at 8 a.m. on this day), said that if it WAS a bird, and it was down, LGK would get it. So out my husband ran onto the porch, where I heard him yelling, "NO, YOU CAN'T HAVE THAT!!" and "SPIT THAT OUT!!!"

My husband hollered for me to come help, and I came running! The front door was open and feathers were flying. Tiny feathers EVERYWHERE! Yes, of course, LGK had the little bird clamped in his jaws! Have you ever tried to remove a creature from a cat's mouth? What are the techniques that work? My husband held the cat and he was shaking the cat and sort of whapping the cat on the back of the head (gently but firmly) until the cat let go of it. I grabbed the poor little bird in my hands and ran for the back porch.

Have you ever held a live bird? It was so tiny, so light in my hands; such a miracle. As it turns out, the bird was a small, young, female cardinal, dressed in shades of green and red, looking stunned, and having lost a bunch of pin feathers. I cradled her in my hands with her sort of wrapped in a small towel, and sat with her on the deck for a while, holding her nestled against my heart, keeping her warm so that she wouldn't go into shock.

My husband brought out a blanket for me, as I had no jacket on when I rushed out the door, and something to sit on, as well as a box to put the bird in if I wanted to (but alas, no camera; so once again, we have no photos of the bird or the rescue!).

As I sat there, holding the little bird, I heard the sound of cardinals in the trees above me. You can't miss their call; it sounds like old-fashioned bubble lights on a Christmas tree. And as I held the little bird in my hands, and listened to the cardinals singing, I wondered if they were calling out her name. Did they know that she was down for the count?

Eventually, the little bird began to squawk! And then she flapped! And then she bit me - HARD - on the finger. I looked down and she had my finger in her beak, crunching me, hard. I suddenly had to laugh! OW!!! And - Wow! That's some torque pressure, little lady! She began to flap! I thought - any bird who can flap like that and bite like that is ready to roll!

So I took her to a tree in the backyard, where I was planning to put her on a branch, well above the cat's reach. And as soon as I opened my hand to place her, SHE FLEW AWAY, as straight and strong as an arrow, and landed in a tree in front of the shed!!! Strong wing flaps, fast speed . . . fly fly fly, little one, my little female cardinal!

My husband reported that the little bird flew back again, a few minutes later, to the spot on the deck where she and I had sat together when I was holding her. And that she stayed there for a few minutes, and sang. Which he interpreted as a Thank You from the wee bird. I saw her again myself, a few minutes later, on a tree in the front yard. What a fine, strong little bird.

At the end of the adventure, my husband and I were both sort of stunned. Once again, I was the one left holding the bird, so I have NO pictures at all to show for what happened, of the amazing rescue of the little female cardinal. Just a tale of goodwill, and a handful of feathers.

But my husband says that I am a hero, and that a little bird was literally rescued from the jaws of death, once again, by me. So here are the crittergators, posing with two feathers I had on my shirt, to document the event for posterity. Fly well, be strong, my little beauty.

So that is the tale of the amazing cardinal rescue. And now when I hear a cardinal singing around the yard, I look up to see, because it might just be her. So now I know for whom the cardinal sings. She sings for ME.

My soundtrack song is Styx, with Sing for the Day.
And I've come back to add one more! For our little bird, flying strong and true as an arrow even after all of THAT, let's add this one: Kacey Musgraves, with Follow Your Arrow.

P.S. Obligatory movie reference: I said to my husband, I'm starting to feel like Bonnie Bedelia at the end of Die Hard 2: "Why does this keep HAPPENING to us?"  LOL!