Not Every Tale Gets a Happy Ending

There is a new grave in the meadow. We had a sad bird incident in the yard today that ended poorly. My husband called me outside to see what we thought was a small reddish fledgling bird of some kind hanging around one of our yard's water stations.

It had been there a while. I got my camera and went to investigate. When I saw the female cardinal there, so close to this little bird, I somehow thought it might be a fledgling cardinal.

But it was a house finch, and it was injured somehow, with an abrasion to its left wing. It sat by the water source, and even as other birds came and bathed, it did not move away.

I asked my husband (sitting on front porch reading a book) to keep an eye on it, because I wasn't sure it could fly yet. Well, as it turns out, the bird was injured, and THAT is why it was behaving oddly.

It toppled over into the weeds and we rescued it and put it in a box in the shade near the water dish. It passed into the Next Place a short while later. We left its body there in the box so that the bird could lie in state, and so that any other birds who knew it would see and understand what had happened.

We held a little service out front. T. Tiger put on his Mourning Hat and said a few words. The Moose just lay down and cried. So did I. The service was followed by interment in a sunny spot in the Meadow. Little bird, rest easy. You are Home now.

While it is indeed a sad tale, I think it is a fitting tribute to the bird to share one of these photos, so here is today's picture. Go well, pretty little bird. Sing lovely songs. Enjoy flying as high as the moon and the stars, best beloved!

The Moose, for his part, is inconsolable. He has never seen death up close and personal like this before. He says our soundtrack song has to be by John R. Cash, for Johnny was a man who knew and understood great sorrow. Here is the Man in Black, with Ain't No Grave.

There ain't no grave
Can hold my body down
There ain't no grave
Can hold my body down
When I hear that trumpet sound
I'm gonna rise right out of the ground
Ain't no grave
Can hold my body down