Refuge for a Cardinal

Today at Protection Farm it is cold and incredibly snowly.  We are back into a cycle of constant precipitation and right now one of the biggest snowstorms of the year, at least in duration, is occurring. We are accumulating snow at a rapid rate, the car is parked down near the street, and it is beginning to remind me of the winter we spent at Hobbit Hollow over 20 years ago when we were snowed in for about 6 weeks and I had to ski about 8 miles round trip to pick up provisions from Hogans in Java for our new family.

Today Jonna and I  are sitting next to our picture window, watching the endless snows, and watching a very active bird feeding station.  Among our visitors are a male and female Cardinal that have been regular residents here, we think, for a number of years.  I am not 100% sure but two winters ago I had an encounter with a cardinal and I like to think that the male cardinal that we have here now is either the same, or related.

I wrote about this in my Protection Farm Journal notebook.  It is dated January 4, 2009.

"we have a family of Cardinals that have been regular visitors to our feeders. There is an adult male and female, and what I think are two juveniles, both born this past summer.  It is hard to tell for sure, as this is just casual observation, but it appears that this is a family that has consistently been here.

Yesterday was very cold. I was sitting under a blanket on the couch next to the big picture window which is our window to the feeding station.

I wasn’t wearing anything except my socks and was comfy under the blanket on the couch. That might seem like TMI, but it is entirely relevant to this story.   I noticed the male juvenile perch on one of the Pin Cherry branches that are just off the porch.  I had my camera and snapped a few shots. Then the Cardinal  came into the feeders. There were about a dozen other birds at the feeders including two Mourning Doves, several Chickadees, a couple of Goldfinches, and  some Junco’s. 

This Cardinal ended up in my living room.

I think it knew it was coming inside, and was trying to get around the Mourning Dove at the bottom right of the photo.

The cardinal was acting nervous and tentative.  It was obvious that all of the birds were a little extra energetic.  It struck me as odd. The Cardinal was on the porch railing when something spooked all of the birds and they flew off.

 It was a serious scare as a couple of Junco’s flew right into the picture window in front of me.  I was sitting down on the couch, slouched down really and didn’t have a great view, but the sudden flight panic got my attention.  The birds that ran into the window were not traveling fast, not at top speed and they bounced off the window relatively gently, and kept flying. That is the norm at these feeders. They are close enough to the window that the birds never pick up enough speed to do any damage when or if they hit the window Usually.

However this time, whatever spooked them created enough of a panic that the Cardinal flew directly at the window and hit it with a hard thud.  I saw it hit out of the corner of my eye and as I looked up, I saw a shadow fly overhead and away. I am guessing it is our constant companion  the Red tail.  I have never seen the big hawk hunt at these feeders but when he is around he always gets everyone’s attention. 

There was a red feather stuck to the window where the cardinal hit.  It was a big hit, but I assumed the Cardinal flew away.  I lifted up off the couch disturbing my cats who were sitting on top of the blanket and I looked over the edge of the window and down in the snow.  I was stunned by what I saw.  Two scraggly cardinal feet sticking straight up out of the snow, and a red tail feather.  It was kind of silly and cartoonish looking. The legs were wriggling a bit, but I got the message that the bird hit hard and had nosedived into about a foot of soft snow.

I knew I had to act quickly. I knew that the shadow that had passed may return to claim a prize. I knew it was bitter outside, and I knew that the cardinal was probably out cold.  This wasn’t my first bird rescue, and I knew I had to act fast. The big problem was that I was, as I mentioned earlier, nekkid except for socks.  I didn’t have on any pants, or shoes.   In defense, this is not my usual attire, but I had earlier emerged from warm shower  and just decided to get under the blanket and watch the storm for a bit. My cats did not mind my unclothed state. Did I mention that it was cold out? Blizzarding?

I put the camera down and rushed around for a few confused seconds looking for pants, or pajamas, but all I could find was my snow boots.  I decided that bird rescue valor called for no modesty and so out I went into the blowing snow. It was about 20 degrees and felt much worse.  It was only a few steps to the bird, and I reached down into the snow bare handed (and bare everything else)  and plucked out the unlucky bird.  At that moment a car drove by on the hardly plowed road which was about a hundred yards from the porch. It was snowing pretty intensly so I don’t think anyone saw me. At least they didn’t blow the horn.

As I lifted the bird out it was obvious that its beak was full of snow. Stuffed really.  It eyes were also covered with packed snow. The first thing I did was notice that it was entirely unconscious and that its mouth was entirely clogged. Must have hit the snow with it open.

I was able to reach in with my fingers and dig the snow out.  I could see down its throat so I knew I had cleared it.  I cupped the bird in my hands and in the house we went.  Did I mention the cold? Shiver me timbers! I was pretty cold.  As I walked in I saw the our cats anxiously perched on the couch where they had been watching me out the window. They were very curious about what I had found. We, the cats and I,  are in the habit of sharing found objects, especially living objects or recently dead objects with each other.  They expected a show and tell.  I closed the door and sat on the couch surrounded by curious cats and cupped and warmed the bird. I put my hands around its body, brushed off all of the snow, covered its eyes and held it close to my chest.  It’s heart was beating. Wow!

I hoped that it would revive from its shock in a few minutes.  Many times when birds have collisions they go into shock.  If they are handled gently they can often be revived.  If they are not given emergency care they can expire. Sometimes they will just freeze to death or perish from some other sort of exposure. Or a predator gets them. 

Gradually this Cardinal came back. By now I had managed to find pajama bottoms and a t-shirt and had managed to put them on. After about five long minutes, one Cardinal eye popped open.   It didn’t appear to focus or exhibit a lot of comprehension, but I took it as a good sign. And then the other opened. After about five more seconds the Cardinal lifted its head and stared directly and hard at me. I tried to imagine what it was thinking.

As it regained its senses, it began to wiggle and I grasped it a little tighter. I have handled a lot of birds, mostly through banding and so I know how to hold a bird. Cardinals can be very aggressive, not as aggressive as chickadees, but they can still give a cuticle a good bite. I have experience with that and I was able to give this bird a comfortable (for both of us), squeeze, one that kept any blood from shedding from either of us. 

As this scene unfolded, the cats were becoming more and more curious, but not at all aggressive, just inquisitive. They kept a respectful distance, but kept their attention on us.

I took a  picture.

I managed to both find some clothing and snap this badly out of focus picture of the Cardinal and I.

He is just starting to realize that he has been rescued, or capture, or is conscious. Probably had no idea what hit him 

Now he is thinking that he wants a piece of me!

 

After another few minutes the Cardinal made a quick move and jumped out of my hand and flew into the Christmas tree. This startled me and panicked the cats who both fled the room. Rosie went up the stairs and Red Cat into the basement. I couldn’t help but to recall Red Cats valiant battles with summer moths and house flies. He usually won by eating the intruders but it was always an exciting spirited spectacle until the final moments.

“Brave hunters “I said out loud. 

The Cardinal perched in the living room Christmas Tree like an ornament and stared at me in still dazed state. I went over to it and easily recaptured it.  I held it close and covered its eyes again, confident that it was well on the way to a full recovery. We sat there in silence for a minute or so. And then it began to screech.

It screeched like a little baby, which is really what I think it was. I am pretty sure that this is a juvenile male, and was still in the company of its parents and sister. It was probably less than 6 months old. It made a racket. The cats couldn’t help but to come running.

Red Cat came close and gently sniffed the birds head.  Then he went away about four feet to our left and sat and watched. Rosy sat about 4 feet away to the right,  staring with incredibly wide eyes. She was very excited but seemed more curious then aggressive.  It was kind of a neat few moments. 

As the bird continued to regain its senses, I walked it around the room and into the kitchen.  It became a little more calm and stopped screeching.  It reminded me of walking an irritated baby human around in my arms and I talked gently to it.  I even nuzzled it a bit with my face.  I am not sure that this had a good effect, but, well, it was instinctual.  At one point  I started showing it the windows and the outdoors. This elicited interest in this bird.  It clearly recognized the difference between being inside and the outside, beyond the window.  

After a few more minutes I took it out on the porch.  It seemed to happily drink in the fresh air and began to make new noises, these decidedly more friendly than the screeching.  Kind of little chortles and a whistle or two.  It definitely calmed down once it was outside. And I noticed a female Cardinal came to the tree line about 30 feet from where we were and she was very focused on the noisy little bird in my hands. I dint know if it was mom Cardinal, or sister, but it was watching us.

After another moment, I placed the recovering Cardinal on the post of the porch railing. It sat there for a few seconds and then flew-directly back into the big picture window where it hit with a thud.  This time though, it was  a glancing, blow and it   turned mid air back toward me. It flew directly at me and then by my face screeching and looking straight at me. Not sure what it was saying, but I had the sense that if birds could use foul language, I was witnessing it. It flew to a perch in the cherry tree just next to the porch and sat there. The female was nearby but flew off.  After a while so did my little rescued Cardinal.”

The newly released Carinal sat on this branch for a while before flying off 

This Cardinial visiting our feeder the next day. the snow crystals around its eye were very interesting.

This Cardinal at our Feeder on Jan 15, 2011

I am pretty sure that this Cardinal and this Cardinal family are still part of the landscape here at Protection Farm. In fact as I look out at the bird feeder today, on January 15, 2011, I am feeling that the Cardinals that I watch every day are very familiar, and that maybe one of them has been inside my house.