Hello, all! I realize that I've already posted a million times, but Danny and I have a story that was made for telling! So, here it is: Last night we joined E, A, and the boys for pizza at Mellow Mushroom. While there, Danny told us about his encounter with a Mama bird earlier that day: He was on a ten foot ladder, pruning a tree, when he noticed a nest that appeared to be empty. But he was sorely mistaken. And when Mama returned home with food, she was not at all pleased to find Danny so close to her brood. And she let him know it! She morphed into a feathered torpedo, dive-bombing Danny repeatedly. He even has a mark or two on his arm to prove it! In his haste to escape the winged avenger, poor Danny lost his footing and fell off the ladder!
Fast-forward a little, and we're returning home from dinner with the Brusos. While Danny waits in the car with Will, I ran in to box up some homemade baklava and lentil pilaf to take to Carol. I stepped back out onto the porch to ask Danny a question, and we both noticed a flutter in the tree branches that extend across our privacy fence. It was a robin, but he appeared to be behaving more like a hummingbird, hovering in mid-air with his beak on the tip of the branch. We both stood there mesmerized by the strange sight for a moment, until I realized that the robin's flutterings actually looked quite frantic. I asked Danny to take a closer look: "He's caught up in some green mesh netting! Oh, man, it's wrapped around his neck," Dan exclaimed! I yelled for him to go get his ladder, and he yelled for me to go get the mini-pruners. It took several tries to get the ladder close enough, but with some acrobatics I managed to get within reach. Understandably suspicious, the robin went berserk every time I touched him. But he soon had both feet and a wing bound up in the insidious web, at which point he was powerless. Once I held his head firmly between two fingers, he submitted entirely. Ever-so-often he gave off a pitiful cry, and I realized that the poor thing was a juvenile calling out to his parents in desperation! (Dan said they, in turn, were actually hovering nearby, unable to do anything but worry!) After sending Danny back inside for scissors, and with some delicate maneuvering, I to began un-weaving the little bird's contorted body. The poor creature began wriggling, again, when he saw those scissors approach his head. But he responded well to my most soothing Mommy voice, and from that point on simply let me do what I needed to do. Amazingly, there appeared to be no lasting injury (I was especially concerned about that wing, or that the fine plastic string may have actually cut into his neck when he fought against it.) Content that he appeared capable of flying without further injuring himself, I lifted him up toward the branch and opened my hands. I swear I could see the shock on his face when he registered that he was not only free from the two--handed-featherless-monster, but also from the netting's choke-hold! With a cry, he took off to the neighboring tree (followed instantly by what I can only assume were his rejoicing parents!)!! The End
