8:44 p.m. - 2004-09-26
The little bird

A Little Bird

Today was a gorgeous Indian Summer day. Coolish weather and deep blue sky. I had just come in to change the bird cage and was getting a garbage bag in the kitchen and I heard the noise. "THUD"!!!!

I looked up to see someting small fall onto the porch. I knew it must be a bird. I am such a weeny when it comes to dealing with the sick and injured. Trust me, if you ever have a heart attack or something that requires an ambulance, just hope that I am not the only one around because I will pull both fists up to my mouth and just stand there and hyperventilate through clenched teeth and say, "Oh No, Oh No, Oh No."

It took me a few minutes to get the guts to go look and the only reason I did was because my husband was due home and I didn't want him to step on whatever it was and squish it all over my porch. Timidly, I appoached the front door and looked out. There was a tiny folded up bird with greenish, yellow coloring laying on the porch and at first I thought it was dead, but then I saw it breathing heavily. I didn't want to watch it die and didn't want to pick it up so I just sat at the kitchen table and worried about it and watched for my husband to come home so I could make him deal with it.

A few minutes later, I decided to look at it to see if it was dead yet. This time it was sitting up and had it's beak open and was panting. I stepped outside to look at it and did not see any signs of hemorraging so I picked it up. The little thing just looked at me. It didn't struggle or tremble with fear and I hoped that I was not adding to it's troubles.

Eventually, it closed it's beak and just sat there on my open hand while I stroked it's tiny greenish yellow back. I examined it and it looked perfectly healthy.

The bird was tiny like a finch and had a long beak, like a bird who eats bugs out of a tree has. It had a smooth, uncrested, greyish head and greyish tail that was kind of like a swallows tail, yet not as pronounced. It had whitish or more like cream colored breast and underparts and it's back was entirely greenish yellow. There were no other markings, except I seem to remember a faint outline of white around the eyes, but I am not quite sure.

I sang softly to the bird as I stroked it's tiny head and back and noticed that unlike my cockatiel, whos feet are flat when he is standing on a flat surface, this bird's little brown feet were clasped together like it needed a stick to stand on to keep them unclasped.

After a while, I decided that maybe the little bird would be better off sitting on a branch in a dense bush where he could sit and recover without what ever fear I was causing in him, out of site of any predators. I carried him to a bush and was hunting for a suitable branch to try to put him on when.....swoosh....he was gone....he just flew off and he flew off so swiftly, I hardly noticed where he went. I don't know if I helped the situation any, but I sure appreciated the opportunity to get so close to such a beautiful little bird.

I have been on the internet trying to find out what kind of little bird this was. I have never seen a bird like him before. I have it narrowed down to some kind of warbler, judging from it's shape and it's beak. It matches the description of an immature, chestnut sided warbler, but doesn't look anything like an adult chestnut sided warbler. Are there any bird experts out there who can shine a light on what kind of bird this might have been or where I can find pictures of birds that frequent Northern Illinois at this time of year?

P. I. Yarnsmith

previous - next