Shadow the sparrow
Marian McElroy, a dear friend of my family for many years, recently stumbled across the following story in her personal files. It describes an experience she shared with her grandson, and my grade school friend, Richard rescuing a backyard baby sparrow. I'm very grateful to Marian for sharing this memory with us, and thought it might be especially appropriate as we commemorate not one sparrow's anniversary this weekend ...
One day in the Spring of 1987, my neighbor phoned and asked, “Would Richard like to come and pick up a little bird? It has fallen out of the nest, making a lot of noise and flopping all around." So we took a strawberry basket and headed for the neighbors. There we found a tiny creature with no feathers, a yellow beak and two small wings, and “hollering in a loud voice.”
Lining the basket with a paper towel, we placed it on a corner of the kitchen counter and went out to dig some worms. It was dry that year, and worms were not easy to find, but this tiny bird also took to bread softened in milk. Every time the back door was opened or closed, it opened its beak begging for food. And when the lights were turned off in the evening and the door shut so it couldn't see any light, it went to sleep.
It soon developed feathers and we recognized it as a sparrow. After about one week, I had to be gone all day so Richard took it to school with permission from his teacher, Mrs. Gloria Jackson. He fed it that day with just bread.
Some of the details are a bit fuzzy looking back, but it was so interesting to watch the sparrow develop. We changed the paper towel every day, and noticed after a certain time that after hopping onto the edge of its basket, it would defecate off the side to keep the nest clean. Once it was used to hopping onto the edge, it took off one day and flew across the room, and never returned to the basket nest.
Its favorite perch was someone’s shoulder, but it found all of the nest material and slept at night in a smaller basket that was hanging on the wall. We went out to the pet store for information on what to feed it. They suggested buying a cage and keeping it for a pet, and also picking up some birdseed and raw oatmeal for food.
But I thought it would be better off in its own environment. It was nearing about six weeks old, so Richard took it over to where it had fallen. He took it from his shoulder, and placed it on a tree branch. It flew right back to his shoulder - twice; so he brought it back.
As I mentioned, the sparrow was very comfortable on shoulders. It even followed us outside, and to the neighbors. It just made itself at home. It loved to splash in the water when the faucet was running as well. We put its food and water outside, but it flew up to the kitchen window and watched us. So we let it in at night.
It was June 27th, and we were leaving for a birthday lunch. After three attempts at leaving the sparrow on the gate, we all managed to get in the van without it. That was the last time we saw “Shadow” for sure. He was nowhere to be found, until the next day when we saw one sparrow being fed by another in the tree near our back door. I couldn't be certain it was Shadow, but the pet shop told us they will adopt their own. Perhaps Shadow’s mother found her lost offspring.
(a sincere thanks to Marian, a fellow parishioner of Grace Missionary Church in Zion, Illinois, for sharing the story and photos with us, and to my old Waukegan Christian Academy friend Richard for his role in both)
May 15, 2010
Reader Comments (4)
Beautiful story. The boy got as much or more from it than the bird! More children should be taught compassion via examples like this from an early age ....maybe we wouldn't have so many uncaring, intolerant, disrespectful people in this world.
It certainly brought back memories of the few fledglings I've cared for and/or brought to wildlife/bird rehab facilities over the years...
Thank you for the note, Mary, and I agree. Marian did such a wonderful job involving her grandson in that way. I really admire you for all the fledglings you've cared for through the years as well - Ben
I did not see this post until just now but it reminds me so much of my interaction with a baby pigeon I found in a gutter one Sunday when I was in college. I had never been close to a bird before and so was especially fascinated to watch him grow up. I too had difficulty getting him to join the wild world; he was thoroughly imprinted on me, and I was about to leave the country for two years. I found a home for him at a petting zoo. I probably would not make that choice today based on concerns about the petting zoo concept. However the people who ran it were kind and gentle and really liked Sunday. I hope he had a good life. I have never seen birds the same way, including pigeons. Other people see "flying rats" (when they see pigeons). I see Sunday, an intelligent, affectionate creature who loved to take baths and ... sit on my shoulder.
Denise, what an amazing story and act of compassion on your part, and I know you did the best you could for Sunday, and what was best for him at the time - Ben