Warning: First part of this story is not happy.

Last week we noticed a small egg in the flower basket on our front porch. The egg wasn't in a nest and it wasn't being cared for as far as we could tell. two days ago we came home found the flowers out of the pot (they're fake flowers so they're light). We're not sure if it was a big wind or possibly a cat. That's when we noticed two newborn baby birds were dead next to the egg. They couldn't have been more than a few days old at most. We also noticed a small nest in the corner that we didn't see before the flowers were knocked out. It was empty with no mama bird around. :-(

A short while later I came back with a tiny little box for the dead birds and I took a closer look inside the nest. It wasn't empty! There was one tiny baby bird at the bottom, a day or two old, eyes closed and barely breathing at all. But still no mama bird in sight. I went back inside to look up options on the internet. We called a few wildlife rehabilitation numbers but couldn't reach anybody. Not that I knew what I would be doing anyway, but since the baby wasn't even opening it's mouth there wasn't much I could even try - and the temperature would be dropping below freezing overnight. We're still not sure what happened in the first place but nature would have to take it's course. :-(

In the morning I left for work and intentionally ignored the flowerbox. The last thing I wanted to see was the baby bird possibly still suffering. Then during my commute, Patty called my cell phone. She told me that the mama bird returned and was inside the nest! After work the mama bird (possibly a sparrow?) was still in the nest. She stayed there staring out all night.

Then this morning when I went to work again I looked in to find that the mama bird was gone. I knew she'd come back again but more importantly I was able to see inside the nest again. The little baby bird was alive and moving. He's not out of the woods yet but looking much better. :-)

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