Excuse the lighting as I used my iPhone for all of these pictures. Anyway, it looks amazing, and it will be so nice to enjoy Spring and Fall days when it's raining, but not super cold. The fan will also make hot summer days more tolerable.
We also bought some new patio furniture now that we have a solid cover to protect them from the elements.
I love the way it looks, and it definitely goes really well with the patio cover.
The biggest excitement in the backyard was on Sunday afternoon, however. We came back from Home Depot, where we had purchased the outdoor fan and some tomato fertilizer for my tomato plant. I was filling up my trusty watering pail (see in the above picture), when I saw this little guy around the wooden play set:
I immediately yelled for Chris to stop watching the final game of the NBA finals and come help me. First, it was clear that this chick was hurt in some way. When we would get close to him, he would attempt to walk away, but would tip over sideways instead. We also had no idea what kind of bird he was until he started moving. His neck suddenly doubled in size, and my first thought was a great egret or some other wading bird. I also burst into tears because, next to him, was a seriously decomposed chick. Chris also said that he almost ran over another dead one earlier that day when he was mowing the lawns. I was just heartbroken because he was just so little and helpless and clearly his mother was no longer around. In any case, he had most certainly fallen out of his nest in the tree above the play set and was in need of help. Charlotte was also very concerned by the little guy and exclaimed, "Oh no! Quack quack fall down!"* She also tried to feed him grubs that I dug up, but given that the chick was so little, he probably needed the food regurgitated, and I wasn't about to do that.
But we had no idea what to do or whom to call. Chris was saying something along the lines of "this is life," but I wasn't willing to give up so easily. So I turned to Twitter. I'm not much of a Tweeter (Twitterer?), but I figured there's got to be someone out there who knows something about birds (read from the bottom up).
Then I found the Twitter account for International Bird Rescue, @IntBirdRescue, and tweeted a similar message. They responded really quickly and gave me a link of all the Wildlife Rescue organizations in California. They also sent out my message to all of their 3,000 plus followers to solicit more advice.
I located the number for the Sacramento County wildlife rescue, but when I called, they were already closed for the day and weren't accepting any drop-offs until 10AM on Monday. I didn't know what to do as I had to be at work by 10 due to a presentation I was supposed to give, and Chris was on his way to Portland for a work trip.
Meanwhile, I tweeted the above picture to @IntBirdRescue and asked if it was an egret. They thought it was and directed me to immediately put it in a ventilated box and get it to the nearest rehab center. Chris captured the little guy, and we put him in the box in our bathroom with the door closed, so Tandy wouldn't be tempted to have a midnight snack.
Luckily, we are very close to the El Dorado County border, so when I met up with my Playgroup Moms for drinks that night, they suggested Sierra Wildlife Rescue in Placerville as many of them live in El Dorado Hills (just up the hill from Folsom).
All night long, I tossed and turned thinking about the poor little chick. I was told not to give him food or water, so I kept having nightmares that he had died. However, when I checked on him in the morning, he was fine.
I called Sierra Wildlife Rescue in the morning and I was put through to the "egret lady," who told me to get it up to Placerville as soon as I could. They were open much earlier than the Sacramento County one, so I hightailed it up there at around 8:30. The ladies were waiting for me when I arrived. They were very nice, and I found out that everyone who works there are volunteers (and they're open 12 hours a day, 7 days a week). I handed off the little guy, and all the volunteers ooh and aahed about how beautiful he is. One lady actually thought it was a blue heron. She asked me if we lived next to a rookery, as apparently herons like to nest in colonies. I said, it's just a nest in a tall tree in our backyard and to my knowledge there's only one of them (how crazy would it be if a bunch of herons decided to all nest in our tree?!).
Since the verdict was still out on what kind of wading bird it was, I turned back to Twitter this time asking the Audubon Society of California:
I got confirmation this time that it's actually a green heron. I had never heard of a green heron before, so I immediately did a Google Image search, and sure enough, that's what it is. It's not endangered in any way, but it is rare to see them as the adults are usually only active at dusk and dawn. This explains why we never saw the mother bird going to and from our tree (albeit the nest is up really, really high), and gives me more insight into the cracked teal blue eggs I found in the yard a few weeks ago (I was certain they were robin eggs). This might be boring to the average person, but I thought it was amazing to have such a beautiful bird nesting in our backyard.
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| Picture of Green Heron and Chicks from PointsinFocus.com |
In any case, I am feeling pretty good about social media right now. Thanks to Twitter, I was able to find out exactly what to do, and I hope I saved a life. It's also really amazing to think that there are such kind-hearted souls out there who do nothing all day but nurse little animals back to health. Kind of renews your faith in people.
*Since then, Charlotte has gone outside each day asking "Where'd quack quack go, Mommy? Where'd quack quack go?"
The patio cover and new furniture look great! Cool story about the green heron. Great job being such an advocate for that little birdie! You're setting a great example for Charlotte.
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