(no subject)
As I was outside today, I noticed there was a sparrow perched on the roof of the smaller toolshed. It was a rather raggedy looking sparrow, and as I got closer, it didn't fly away as most other wild birds would have. When I got a good look at it, I realized that its eyes were watery, one was completely closed and crusted over, and the other was surrounded by gummy stuff. The poor thing wasn't flying away because it couldn't see me, and even if it knew I was there, it couldn't see to fly away.
So I dragged a deck chair over to the front of the shed and waved my hand in front of its face a few times to be sure. No reaction. It could apparently see me out of its one "good" eye, but not well enough to perceive me as a threat and fly away, and couldn't see me at all out of the other eye.
I figured I could probably catch it and see if there was a wildlife rehabilitation place nearby I could take it to. I know there's one here for raptors and owls, but wasn't sure if they took regular wild birds like sparrows. At any rate, I was determined to get the bird. So I put on a rubber glove, grabbed a box, and went outside again.
By that point, the bird had moved further back on the roof, and I couldn't reach him. So I grabbed a little green plastic garden rake and was using that to kind of shuffle the bird closer. But he got spooked and managed to fly away, landing in the tree.
During my rake herding of the bird, my next door neighbor came down his driveway, and gave me a weird look in passing. At that point I realized I was balanced on an old deck chair, in front of a toolshed, wearing one bright yellow rubber glove and waving a small green plastic rake at a sparrow that he probably could not see was there, while making clucking and chirping noises at it.
No wonder my neighbors keep to themselves. They probably think I'm a lunatic.
I hope the bird recovers. I put a little dish of food and a bowl of water on the shed roof in case he comes back down.
So I dragged a deck chair over to the front of the shed and waved my hand in front of its face a few times to be sure. No reaction. It could apparently see me out of its one "good" eye, but not well enough to perceive me as a threat and fly away, and couldn't see me at all out of the other eye.
I figured I could probably catch it and see if there was a wildlife rehabilitation place nearby I could take it to. I know there's one here for raptors and owls, but wasn't sure if they took regular wild birds like sparrows. At any rate, I was determined to get the bird. So I put on a rubber glove, grabbed a box, and went outside again.
By that point, the bird had moved further back on the roof, and I couldn't reach him. So I grabbed a little green plastic garden rake and was using that to kind of shuffle the bird closer. But he got spooked and managed to fly away, landing in the tree.
During my rake herding of the bird, my next door neighbor came down his driveway, and gave me a weird look in passing. At that point I realized I was balanced on an old deck chair, in front of a toolshed, wearing one bright yellow rubber glove and waving a small green plastic rake at a sparrow that he probably could not see was there, while making clucking and chirping noises at it.
No wonder my neighbors keep to themselves. They probably think I'm a lunatic.
I hope the bird recovers. I put a little dish of food and a bowl of water on the shed roof in case he comes back down.