Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Uh Oh...


I knew it the second I saw him;
his stillness,
the way his feathers drooped over the feeder...

Something was wrong.





He didn't startle at my presence,
at the scraping sound of the shovel,
or the snow being tossed into the air.

Not normal behaviour for this Common Redpoll.



This is what I was shovelling my way to,
the spot where my husband and I sit to watch
 the birds flit between the feeders and a nearby fir tree.



Rather than continuing to make any more noise,
nervous of scaring him away
when, perhaps he wasn't well,





I decided to leave this little guy in peace.


The shovelling can wait.

38 comments:

  1. Lovely little bird....good serie Rosemary.

    Greetings, Joop

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  2. Rosemary, I guess this poor Redpoll is not well or cold, or has met with a crow.

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    Replies
    1. I don't know what was the matter with him but in the end he flew away, so I hope all is well :)

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  3. BOnjour et bien cet oiseau est superbe il doit lui aussi avoir bien froid même avec ses petite plumes
    Merci de ton passage

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  4. Poor little bird. He is beautiful but does indeed look as if he's not feeling so good. Hope he'll be able to recover and find back his strength.
    You still have a thick blanket of snow, lots of shoveling to do then. We have only a thin layer left now but more snow is predicted for tomorrow.
    Bye,
    Marian

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Marian, yes, we still have a good amount of snow which usually lasts until mid-March :) The Redpoll finally flew away and I'm hoping it was just having a bad day.

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  5. Hello Rosemary!
    Oh, we really fell in love with winter.
    I do not want to leave ...
    I'm waiting for spring.
    I send kisses!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Lucia, we are ALL impatiently waiting for spring!

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  6. Poor little fellow! I wish him the best. So much snow - Yikes!

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    Replies
    1. You'll be happy to know he managed to fly away and like you, I hope everything is okay :)

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  7. Oh, how sad. :( I hope it warms up a bit, maybe that would help him out. Or that he was just momentarily dazed.

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    Replies
    1. Yeah, he made me feel sad too but he flew away the same day so I'm hoping he found his friends and all is well :)

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  8. A very thoughtful and sweet journey, thanks. I spend every Spring full of regrets as baby birds don't fledge, or fall out of their nest, or for some other reason die in our yard. Is it really worth it to have all these bird feeders that attract the birds just to have some them perishright in front of us? The sadness of having to scoop up a lifeless bird body is always overcome by the joy of watching them swoop and flit and snack on the sunflower seeds.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They do tug at your heart strings, don't they? I'm happy to say that he flew away that same day, so hopefully he's better now.

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  9. Oh what a poor guy! I hope he will survive!

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    Replies
    1. You and me both, Willy :) I kept on checking on him and then, poof, he was gone, hopefully all is well.

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  10. Replies
    1. He flew away, so let's all keep our fingers crossed that he was just having a bad day :)

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  11. Rosemarie I hope that when the winter is over that this bird will still live, it's so cold!
    You can not catch it and then manually enter?
    Meal worms and sprinkle with some vetbol mashed food by mixing it with some fresh orange juice through his vitamins!
    You make a kind of worms and make his beak open with your nail of your little finger and push the worm inside.
    Please try!
    regards, Annie
    http://anniezon.blogspot.nl/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Annie, you are so sweet, thanks so much for all this information :) Luckily he flew away, so this all ends well.

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  12. Hermoso pájaro, tiene un color muy particular! Gran captura. Abrazos.

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  13. I do hope that he is alright and just suffering from a bit of exhaustion. Sometimes when birds fly into our windows and fall to the ground, if they are left alone for 30 mins they seem to recover slowly and eventually fly away again.

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    Replies
    1. This is what I'm hoping as well Rosemary. He flew away a few hours later, so I'm thinking all must be well.

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  14. Poor guy! I hope he gets better. I have never seen any redpolls at my feeders, though they are in this area.

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    Replies
    1. Hello Jason, thanks for you concern, they're fairly new to my feeders as well so maybe you'll get a visit or two soon :) They are the cutest!

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  15. Aww, I hope by now he has recovered.

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    Replies
    1. He managed to fly away Linda, so I'm choosing to believe all is well :)

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  16. Oh Rosemary..I thought you were going to rescue him.
    But then again, I thought you did the right thing.
    To leave him to recover himself.
    Poor guy :( Hope he's ok now.
    Such a cute birdie!
    Love your garden lounge :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Ash, I would have loved to rescue him, but he managed to fly away so I'm thinking he's okay now :) I love sitting outside and watching all the action around me.

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  17. I hope, the redpoll got better..Happy Valentine's Day, Rosemary!

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    Replies
    1. I'm thinking he was just having a bad day, as we all do occasionally :) Happy Valentine's Day to you as well!

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  18. Ik hoop dat het goed gaat komen met het vogeltje lieve groetjes Danielle

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  19. Hello Danielle, he managed to fly away so I think he is okay. Thanks for your visit.

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  20. How sweet of you to wait with the shoveling, I'm glad he managed to fly away again ! Your photos are awesome !

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  21. Ahh ... I have quite a bit sorry for this little bird. He sits there quite a bit pathetic emails, but he does have food;-)

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Thank you so much for your kind words :)

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