A Bird in the Box is Worth Two in the Hand

It happens every Spring, a baby bird falls from its nest into our booth in the Arbors and this year was no exception.  These sweet lil birds love to build their nests way up in the metal rafters of the pavillions a good 20 feet high.  Which is a good plan unless the babies take a tumble during the insanity of the First Monday show!

On Thursday, smack dab in the middle of the show with a booth full of people, Hubster called me at the Shoppe and said, "a baby bird has fallen from one of the nests, what do we do?"  I told him to put the baby into a small open box and place it on top of one of the tall hutches on the back wall of the booth.  An hour later, he called and reported that the mom and dad had found the lil guy.  They were going in and out of the box caring for him, even amidst all the activity in the booth.

This excited every one, staff and customers alike as they watched the sweet family affair!  For three days, this went on, mom and dad going in and out of the box, baby doing just fine, and then came Sunday....our tear-down day.  We have to be out of the building by midnight on Sunday because by Monday morning the building is occupied by contractors tearing down walls, and workers with blowers and equipment cleaning up the remnants of the show.  Not at all a good scene for a baby bird in a box.  What to do?

So, on Sunday evening we climbed up a ladder and hung the box as high as we could get it on the wall.  Then secured it with rope and waited.  Within just a few minutes, mom and dad appeared on the scene and were again going in and out of the box.  They never missed a beat...isn't that something?  I must confess that I was thankful these weren't Mockingbirds or Blue Jays.  Any of you that have ever attempted to help a baby Mockingbird or Blue Jay that has fallen from the nest will know what I mean....they are not happy campers when you go near their babies!  But, these sweeties watched from a distance as if they knew we were helping.

We continued to check on things to make sure all was well.  And, I'm happy to report that within a few days, the little guy flew the box!  I wish I had some photos to share with you, but it didn't occur to me during the craziness of the show.  However, I did snap some photos today of these sweet birds that reside on the First Monday grounds, as well as the cardboard highrise that now has a vacancy!

Birds are the most incredible parents...don't you think so?
I never cease to be moved by them.

We can do no great things,
only small things with great love. ~Mother Teresa