The Life of a Sparrow

One morning I took my dog for a stroll outside and noticed him pulling on his leash. I looked down and saw a small chick at the end of his nose. I pulled him back and picked up the small bird. It looked kind of ugly, half-feathered and half-bald. Apparently, it had fallen out of one of the nests in the tree in my yard. I had been looking up at them and noticed four chicks putting their heads close to the entrance of one of the nests. I looked that day and saw that only three chicks remained in the nest. This solved the mystery of the origin of this small chick. I had to decide if I should attempt to put it back in the nest or not. I had read that if they fall out of their nests they are likely to just fall out of their nests again.

I decided to feed the chick. My friend told me they have to have heat. Therefore, I got out my heating pad and put it under a plastic basket that I covered using black corduroy. This kept the chick from getting chilled. I installed a small branch in case the bottom of the basket got too heated. Then, I searched on the internet and found a bird formula recipe. It is a puree of several items. I purchased bird formula powder at the pet store. However, I felt daunted by the directions and chose to keep using my puree instead. Feeding sessions lasted about a minute every twenty five minutes. The time frame for feedings became the most difficult part of taking care of the chick. However, this slowly increased to a feeding every two hours.

In the mean time, a month had gone by and the chick started looking more like a feathered bird. I named him Ernie and he began to exercise on his branch. The pet store owner cautioned me not to kiss my bird on one of my visits and the clerk told me that I am going to get mites in my hair. That scared me quite a bit. Birds have bacteria in their beaks and mites in their feathers. Ernie looked healthy and vigorous exercising until one day he jumped into my hair and nestled. I panicked a little and tried to get him out but had to let him stay for a few minutes or else risk a tangle disaster. As Ernie matured and feathered out, I realized I had made a mistake and should rename her since her markings are that of a female sparrow. She had progressed from jumping on my hair to pecking me on the nose. Be careful, sparrows kiss you even if you do not kiss them. I decided to rename Ernie to Tizzy since she stands up and cheeps loudly for her feedings. I felt surprised at how vivacious and interactive sparrows are and appreciate them more now that I have gotten to know one personally.