Roadkill

The other day, a snowy day - I was slowing down towards the bottom of a hill so I wouldn't slide onto the upcoming intersection. There was this little chickadee in the road - it must have been aerodynamically challenged because it didn't lift quite high enough into the air and sort of tumbled across my hood and into the windshield wiper. I got out to see if it would be OK. A couple of days earlier I had been at my friend's (she teaches a wildlife class at a college) and a chickadee flew into their arcadia door and knocked itself dizzy. She said that if we left it outside it would freeze to death because it wasn't moving - so they brought it inside and put it in a cat carrier until it was back up to par - about 20 minutes. They put it back out side and away it flew. Sooooooo - I picked it up - it didn't appear to have any broken legs or wings but was way too docile. So I held it and drove to our office. Of course I had a hard time getting in because the overhead door was frozen shut - but I managed. I put it in a box with paper towels and an old torn bath towel over it - and went about my business. I had to make a trip to the new apartment complex we bought and I got a little feed from one of the tenants. The sweet little bird started hopping around and scratching to get out - so I stopped where I picked it up - thinking it probably had a nest nearby. I carried it up over the snowbank (with no boots on) and gently set it down. It flopped and wobbled and scurried away from me. I was a little alarmed at his lack of steady mobility, but he manage to hop up on a tree branch, and then to another, so I left it and went home for lunch. I took these pictures when I dropped him off.

After lunch, I had to drive past him again and he was still on the same branch, with it's little head tucked under it's wing. I was feeling guilty about hitting it and worrying that it would become fox or eagle lunch - so I climbed back over the snow bank and farther - and picked him up again. He didn't really try to get away, but seemed fairly alert. I put him back in the box and picked up the seeds I had left for him in the snow. I went to the office and planned to go to town to get a cage to keep him in until I was sure he was OK. When I came out of the office 10 minutes later - he was dead. But - surprisingly enough - I didn't cry. Almost though.