Clark & the Cardinal

On Tuesday, February 12, Clark and I had an exciting afternoon.

We were going about our daily afternoon routine -- Clark had just gotten up from his afternoon nap and he had started eating supper. Tired of mom feeding him by spoon, I gave up and handed him his cereal bowl which he now will eat out of on his own (only when it isn't too runny is this an option). Suddenly there was a big "THUNK" on the screen door of the porch. Once again I figured stupid bird hitting the window, then felt bad even it was just a poor stupid sparrow, because I knew the cats had been outside not so long ago. So, I went to the window and looked out and there was a cardinal lying on the sidewalk and there running up the sidewalk was our female cat Hello. With Clark being secure in his high chair I threw on some shoes and dashed out the door -- scooped up the cardinal thwarting Hello of her diabolical plan to have a fresh cardinal supper.

I realized the cardinal was stunned pretty good so I took it back in the house. That made it come out of its stupor pretty quickly. So I held it up for Clark to look at. He thought that was great fun and even got to gently touch the feathers and hear its chirps up close (mom, of course, trying to juggle the bird, the camera, and a very curious Jack the cat got a firm nip on that nice sensitive skin between the thumb and forefinger).

So, that's the story of our afternoon with the cardinal. Oh, wait -- so, after I snap the last photo for posterity Jack gets more than curious and spooks the cardinal which gets free of my hold and flys to the kitchen window trying desperately to get away from these crazy people (and cat). Jack leaps up onto the counter and brings down the cardinal into the sink. I snatch Jack and get the cardinal out of his mouth. Jack ends up on the floor the cardinal now flys into the basement stairwell. Luckily it landed on the door's window ledge and now being a little out of it from the cat incident I quickly snatch it back up. After checking it over for injuries once more I determined it was unharmed (other than the loss of a couple feathers still sitting on my countertop) -- again for my efforts I receive a sharp nip on the hand.

I took the cardinal outside and set it free -- now with all the outdoor cats eagerly watching -- but the cardinal was well enough and flew to a nearby tree far out of reach. Later the cardinal was seen on the feeder with I believe another juvenile and the mother cardinal. I think the cardinal is a juvenile male but I am not exactly sure. We have a male and female who are at our feeders all year long and this winter two more have joined the group -- at first I thought they were two more females but now I think they are two young cardinals.

I now get to add cardinal to my growing list of wild birds rescued from harm, held for a bit, and released back into the wild -- others include male pheasant and young kestrel.

Yes, that was quite an exciting end to our otherwise normal, routine Tuesday afternoon!