A Sad Day for Birds (and Kait and Andy)

This story is not going to be easy to read, please avert your eyes if you have a soft spot for wild birds.
Please don't consider this a guide to anything. We don't recommend it.

Here we are at "the cabin." (It's not really a cabin, but that's what Andy calls it because its cozy and comfy and on a creek and in the middle of nowhere. It's actually the full-size house that I grew up in and where my parents live all the time so I don't think you can call it a cabin.)

We get up in the morning to find a bird sitting strangely still on the porch - where the crazy puppy has been bouncing around. I send Andy out to investigate. Yup, the bird is stuck AND "someone" has completely ripped off one of its wings. It's gruesome. So, I can remember vaguely the strategy of assembling a stretcher of sorts for wounded animals using a shoe box. I do that, throwing a bunch of leaves and sticks and dirt inside to make it comfortable. With big snow gloves on Andy forces the one-winged bird into the bed we made for it. It makes an effort with it's single wing, but really can't move much at all.

The problem is we don't really know what we're supposed to do next. It's guts are hanging out, but somehow it is still breathing. If we take it to the vet, they're gonna think we're ridiculous (because they won't be able to save it) and that we're 12 (26 year olds don't usually spend a lot of time saving mangled birds). So, we go looking for worms. That's what birds eat, right? We dig a lot of holes before we actually find any worms. My family has a few outdoor cats so naturally we're concerned about where we should leave our little ward while we ponder our next move (I'm really trying to resist calling my mom at work - that's what my sisters and I did back when the parakeet got out and was flying around the house with the cat chasing it). We settle on a flower box outside an upstairs window - that's way too high for any cats to get to it. It's safe in the little hospital we've created but we just don't know what to do next. We need to help end its suffering. Andy asks if we have a bb gun. Um, no.
Then, the unbelievable happens - the bird makes a leap of faith - and finds none. Somehow it used its one wing to get out of the box, out of the flower box and fall to the ground. There's no helping it. We can only hope it hopped its little self under some bushes to hide from the many predators.
We're sorry we aren't better at saving birds.

Hey, its been 2 months and we're still on the road!!

Yeah, that's right - Andy played Saginaw Valley State University - they were so excited they were tearin' up the place!

Did you know the Lincoln Park Zoo is FREE?! And when its cold the giraffes hate it just as much as we do...

Booze WAREHOUSE! We heart Chicago (and they're BYOB liquor policies - WHAAAT?!)

love, K & A