Stuffing a seagull into your shirt on a busy city sidewalk

[AlienGirl]

...makes people look at you funny.

Tucker

[jobycom]

1. Are they looking at you or the seagull?

[AlienGirl]

7. Both.

The cab driver was particularly taken aback; he thought I had a *human* baby under my shirt.

Tucker

[In_The_Wind]

2. I would think so

how did the gull feel about the whole thing

[AlienGirl]

5. The gull was moderately annoyed

He stabbed me a couple of times with his beak and landed a good bite in a sensitive spot, but really, I have a cockatoo, few beaks scare me...

Tucker

[In_The_Wind]

11. I've read your post about about your Cockatoo.

Was the gull injured? Why were you carrying it with you?

[AlienGirl]

12. The gull was a fledgeling

He ran out of the way of a car and just about bonked into a glass door. He was almost, but not quite, able to fly, and had apparently fallen from a nest on top of a building.

Normally it's best to leave a fledgeling bird be; the parents are still watching and they'll be okay. But this was a very busy street with a lot of traffic, so I took him home overnight.

Tucker

[In_The_Wind]

14. I see. That was very nice of you.

I can understand why you would intercede in this particular rescue. Were you able to feed him?

[AlienGirl]

15. Yep, he ate quite a bit

He's old enough to eat without being fed, but it took a little doing to show him that it was food.

Tucker

[In_The_Wind]

16. I see in post # 13 that all went very well.

My Blue & Gold Macaw hadn't learned to eat or drink water when I brought her home. Those first weeks were quite challenging.

I believe that there really isn't anything which compares with the way a feather-head can touch your heart with warm and fuzzy feelings.

[AlienGirl]

19. Wow, unweaned birds can be tough

I raised a two-day-old sparrow to release last year, my first baby since I left the wildlife center in '95 (when I started having human babies). I'd forgotten how tiring it gets keeping baby birds full!

Sometimes I think I'd love to hand-raise baby parrots for a respectable breeder for a living. Other times I think I'd have to be daft to do so.

Tucker

[In_The_Wind]

21. I'm too soft hearted to raise baby birds and then say good-bye!

I had the brilliant idea of breeding Golden Retrievers to donate to Paws with a Cause only I didn't know ... you have to have both adult dogs ex-rayed first. I can understand about wanting to have the healthiest dogs possible for the training program. However ... there I was with 12 puppies in my living room ... in January.

[BikeWriter]

27. Been there, done that. There's nothing like clutches of fledglings...

all over your house! :)

[complain jane]

24. What a caring person you are.

I love happy stories like this (well not happy that he fell but happy that you came along).

[complain jane]

3. Was it tasty?

[AlienGirl]

8. He was in my *shirt*, not my stomach!

I didn't have a towel or a jacket or anything else to put him in--just my shirt. So I held him in my shirt, against my chest, until I got to AuntJen's where there were boxes.

Tucker

[complain jane]

25. I know. I was just kidding. And I think you're awesome to care for him.

[latebloomer]

4. Are you speaking

from experience?

And did the seagull look at you funny, too?

[AlienGirl]

6. The seagull looked at me really funny

Then he looked at me with his mouth as wide as it could go and made his intentions clear by fluffing and chirping.

Tucker

[Lisa]

9. Let me know how you and your new friend get along ...

I was walking to the library earlier today, and a black mink (live, not in fur coat form) skittered in front of me. The local cats and dogs were freaking out -- hissing, barking, etc.

The mink was probably somebody's pet, but there's no way I was going to snatch it up and stuff it in my shirt. Those darned things scratch like the dickens!


Trivia note -- Timothy Bottoms (most recently known for playing George W. Bush on Comedy Central) was going to audition for "The Paper Chase" many years ago, when he stopped to rescue a gull -- which promptly crapped all over him. He got the part anyway. The gull story is one reason why I like the guy, regardless of what he has to do onscreen to make a living. (Also, his family in Santa Barbara are longtime Dems.)

[AlienGirl]

13. Poor li'l mink!

I need to start carrying a towel for emergencies like that. I already carry a box in the car.

The gull spent the night in our tub, eating moistened whole-grain bread with Avian Superfood and splashing happily in a few inches of water.

This morning, I put him out into our apartment complex's yard, which is *huge* and has a pond and ducks. People feed the ducks, geese, crows, and a few neighborhood gulls here, so he has plenty of role models for finding food.

Best of all, he worked up to an actual takeoff, and flew!

Tucker

[Lisa]

26. that's great news about the gull

It sounds like you've found "waterfowl paradise" for him.

By the way, I feel I should point out (as others have on earlier occasions, alas) that being cosseted by me -- let alone stuffed into my shirt -- is something that any creature in its right mind would be glad to escape!

[Spinzonner]

10. Plumage and Cleavage

or two 'birds'

[Redstone]

17. That's one of the most irrestible subject lines

I've seen in a long time.

Redstone

[skiptomidew]

18. That skunk I tried to hide didn't work out well..:(

The taxi driver said he was gonna be happy to go back to driving a garbage truck the next week.

[LynzM]

20. Nice one :)

I'm glad the fluffy guy got the spa treatment and made out ok!

:rofl: at your subject line!

[AlienGirl]

22. Thanks! nt

[everythingsxen]

23. That's why I love you..

always willing to stop and save an animal. :loveya: