Happy Dream

My family was all in a boat, speeding over the shining water. The sky was filled with sunshine. In the prow of the boat, at the point in the very front, stood Barbara. Of course. That's both physically and symbolically where she would stand. She was wearing khaki shorts and white tee shirt and was turned toward us, her hair blowing in the wind, grinning and waving gleefully. As if to say, "Woo-hoo! What a ride!" Which is what she would say.

Yeah, quite a ride, this life. And look who all are in the boat with us, standing in the prow.

.

Sun Room

Our new sun room has changed our whole way of living. We eat breakfast in it and listen to music afterwards. I bring my laptop and do my correspondence and blog in it. I bring Lucky Egg, too, the baby Bluebird, and he sits in his nest or on his perch and preens his feathers, ridding them of their remaining sheaths, and flaps his beautiful cobalt wings for exercise. And I pop a bit into his mouth when he chirps for food. Demetrios does his medical reading in the sun room, too. We can see the sunshine and the greenery, hear the birds singing, watch (and on mild days, feel) the breeze. We sit here in the rain and watch the storm’s fireworks in the sky and the rivulets forming on the ground. We have lunch here and leave reluctantly afterwards for our nap. We eat supper here and then sit and watch the twilight deepen and the stars come out. In some ways it’s as delightful as our little balcony in Thessaloniki. We don‘t feel closed in, as we do in other rooms; we feel out-of-doors. Yet we can be comfortable here year-round, or at least we expect to.

We don’t go out nearly as much, or for as long, as we used to, just to get out of the house. With gasoline prices as they are, that’s a good thing!

We never dreamed we’d love this sun room so much!

Economic times have gotten significantly harder even since we began this project last Fall, so we are very fortunate to have done it while we still could.

.

Belmont Stakes

The last race of the Triple Crown is being run tomorrow.

Go, Big Brown!

.

How to Pick a President

Why virtue trumps policy

This is the title of a very good article in today's issue of Christianity Today.

I highly recommend it. It goes completely against how we usually vote and shows where we make a huge mistake. Here are two paragraphs I especially like:

We make the same mistake as one recent grumpy CNN commentator: "What we need from these candidates are details of how they are going to solve our problems. How are they going to stop the slide of the dollar? How are they going to get the troops home from Iraq? How are they going to fix Social Security? That's what we need to know." Grumpy and wrong. There's value in hearing a candidate's plans and proposals, but it's of secondary or even lesser importance. Few if any of those plans and proposals will survive the political process intact. Voting for Obama's health plan or Hillary's economic scheme or McCain's immigration policy is virtual-reality voting, positing an intriguing alternate world, but having little to do with this one. When it comes to picking a President, Gandhi had it right: "The obligation of accepting a position of power is to be, above all else, a good human being."

"You've got to be kidding," one hears our CNN commentator saying. "'Good human being'? Who's to say what constitutes a 'good human being'? I want someone competent to run the country." Wrong again. Competence without virtue is poisonous. It simply makes one more effective at doing wrong. Furthermore, being virtuous is, in itself, an expression of competence. Since virtue is a requirement for leadership, a lack of virtue in a leader is a sign of incompetence and grounds enough for rejecting that leadership. Virtue is a personal matter, but it is never wholly a private one, certainly not in a President.

.

Where God is Found...

...and How He Deals with us

Here are a few biblical passages (and there are more than these) that tell us, presumably with the force of a promise, that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, will dwell in our hearts.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your young men shall see visions,
Your old men shall dream dreams.
And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophes
(Acts 2:17-18, quoting Joel 2:28-29

But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of Truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. (John 15:26)

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. (Galatians 4:8)

For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: (Ro. 8:15;16)

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: (Eph. 1:17)

Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah. (Psalm 4:4)

The mouth of the righteous speaks wisdom, and his tongue talks of judgment. The law of his God [is] in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. (Psalm 37:30-31)

I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law [is] within my heart. (Psalm 40:8)

[Forasmuch as ye are] manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. (2 Corinthians 3:3)

Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which [temple] ye are. (1Corinthians 3:16-17)

What? do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit[which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?’ (1 Corinthians 6:19 )

And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in [them]; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16)

If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or [whether] I speak of myself. (John 7:17)

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. all things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:12-15)

So we Orthodox look for — and find — God not only in the Bible, not only in the sacraments, but also in the depths of our own hearts, where we are repeatedly told He dwells. We look to God the Holy Spirit to guide us into all Truth, all Truth being much more than could ever fit, explicitly at least, between the covers of a million books, or into words at all. We look to the Spirit of Truth in the sacraments He performs, in the Holy Scriptures He inspired, and deep within all our hearts and the collective heart of the Church. That is to say, we seek Him and His guidance from the lips of the prophets, through whom He spoke, in the teachings of the Holy, All-Glorious Apostles whom He anointed at Pentecost, in the writings of His saints who, by becoming so Christlike, lived on such intimate terms with the Holy Spirit, in the handed-down praxis of the Church (the doing of God’s will, per John 7:17 above), in her prayers and worship, in our own hearts and the hearts of our fathers and mothers throughout the Church’s history -- and none of this conflicts, all being vivified and verified by the same Spirit of Truth, all being consistent throughout. (If anything is not consistent with the rest, with the whole, we discard it as error.)

We find the Holy Spirit “deals with us” and shows us Truth in all these ways. Indeed, to him who is intimate with the Him, He reveals God in every flower, stone, and raindrop. For such a person, the Spirit of Truth makes the whole world what it was intended to be: a sacrament of communion with God.

.

In Persona Christi Capitis

This Latin phrase means, “In the Person of Christ, the Head,” and expresses Roman Catholic doctrine about the role of a bishop or priest.

In Persona Christi Capitis has two basic meanings. One is to distinguish the cleric, acting in the capacity of the Head of the Church, from the layperson, who acts only as a “member” of the church. The other meaning is that Christ is present to the Church precisely in and through the clergy.

This way of thinking divides the Church into two castes: the clergy and the laity; and of these, only the clergy would (were all else equal) be "Church" in any Orthodox sense of the word. On second thought, neither would, if the priests were acting in Christ's place.

Obviously we Orthodox, too, have both clergy and laity, and make a distinction between them. But none of us, clergy or laity, would dare to think we were acting in the capacity of the Head of the Church.

Furthermore, Christ is present in all of us, every baptized and chrismated one of us. Is He equally present in all of us? No, but the degree of fullness is not determined by our status as ordained or lay. Instead, it is in direct proportion to our purity of heart. The priest may have made less room in his heart than the six-year-old fidgeting beside me in church. We Orthodox highly respect the office of the priest, but he has to earn our respect for his person. We have no two-tiered Christianity with the clergy as mediators between God and man. Neither is the priesthood a spiritual status. Rather, it is a spiritual service.

We also object to phrases such as acting “in the Person of Christ,” or “in the stead of Christ” as downright blasphemous. We do of course realize that, “in the Person of Christ,” is a mistranslation of 2 Corinthians 2:10, which ought to read, “in the Presence of Christ” (prosopo).

But nobody, nobody at all, can stand in Christ’s place or stead or act in His Person (although we can indeed act as His members). The simple reason is, He acts in His own person. He stands in His own place. His place is not vacant. It isn’t as though He had departed and bequeathed His place to someone else. It isn’t as though Christ were replaceable.

We can say of our clergy that the bishop is supposed to be for us the living icon of Christ and that the priests, as the bishop’s delegates, share in that function. But they never occupy the place of Christ, which is already occupied! They do not minister in Christ’s stead, but alongside Him. They perform the visible counterparts of what Christ Himself is doing invisibly. The priest prays (all of us joining his prayer), but Christ sends His Holy Spirit to consecrate the bread and wine and to effect the change in them. The priest immerses a person, but Christ baptizes him, grafting him into Himself, into His own life. The priest prays the prayer of absolution, or in some cases even pronounces the absolution, but Christ forgives.

It’s not that we deny Christ works through people, including priests. (John 20:22-23) Our objection is to the idea that He acts exclusively through priests and not others and not also directly, in accordance with Orthodox experience.

In Persona Christi Capitis, I note, is an example of what I have called a “papal doctrine” or a doctrine, the effect of which is to bolster papal authority, power, and prestige. That's its effect; its intent, one may only surmise.

P.S.) Too bad this error wasn't always caught and corrected during the Reformation.

.

Atheism?

Lately, not particularly by looking for them, I have come across several arguments for the existence of God aimed at atheists. They’re all interesting, but each of them just leaves me cold.

For me, and I think I can say for the Orthodox, it comes down to this: whether one has or has not encountered (either “historically” or “mystically”) the Risen Jesus. For the person who has not, I’ve yet to see any logical argument or set of syllogisms that would compel him to believe (or even come very close). For those who have, though, belief is no longer optional; it is the only sane response.

The risen Lord, St. Paul writes, “showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:3)

Forty whole days. Of group hallucinations? But the thing about it is, very often the people who saw Him did not at first recognize Him. And that pretty well rules out hallucinations, because if your mind makes it up, it makes you see the person as you would expect him to look. Come to think of it, that may be why Christ, in His wisdom, did not allow His followers to recognize Him immediately.

St. Paul reminds the Corinthians of the foundation of the Gospel:

For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. (I Corinthians 15:3-8)

Thomas, the disciple who wasn’t present the first time the risen Jesus appeared to the others, saw Him the next time, and actually put his finger in the nail holes, and his hand in the wound in Jesus’ side. (John 20:24-31)

How could any of these people have doubted this Man who had died was alive again? Would not such doubt have been totally irrational? Or should they deny their own experience?

So once you experience Jesus as alive, you conclude He is the best One from whom to learn spiritual things. So you believe in God. In fact, you believe He is God, as He claims to be.

Now the chief treasure of the Holy Orthodox Church, the precious mystery jealously guarded, hedged about by her creed and dogma, hidden and waiting to be found in her practice, and handed down from generation to generation, from the Apostles to us, is nothing less than a participation in their very own, on-going relationship with the risen Lord Jesus. As St. John says,

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life -- the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us -- that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have communion with us; and truly our communion is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. (I John 1:1-4, emphasis mine)

In the bosom of Holy Mother Church, we ourselves meet the living Christ no less than His first followers did. And in the context of our lived relationship with this living Person, for us disbelief would simply be madness.

.

Baby Foxes

Here are two Gray Fox kits that have come into rehab. Aren't they adorable? Susan has 'em. AND the Red Foxes. AND the coyotes. (Turns out it IS legal to raise the coyote pups - just not to release them!)

.

Surprise!

I was just getting ready to change the name of my baby Bluebird from "Lucky Egg", the name its rescuers gave it, to "Lucy" when I noticed that overnight, sweetie-pie had sprouted wing feathers that are very bright blue. It's a boy, after all! Now what? Luciano?

He now looks like these, especially like the male on the right.

Sola Scriptura Podcasts

Matthew Gallatin has begun a very good series of podcasts entitled, "Sola Scriptura and Philosophical Christianity." I've listened to the first two parts, which are all that are available thus far, and can highly recommend them. As always, they are very clear and easy to understand. Everyone can follow them, yet the content is profound.

.

The Man Born Blind

Today’s Gospel, the tragicomic story of the healing of the man born blind (John 9), is one of my very favorites. I makes me laugh aloud; it makes me sad; it is so rich in layers of irony.

First we have the disciples assuming that the man’s misfortune was a punishment for somebody’s sins. The only question was whose, his or his parents? It’s just like today, when people assume Jesus’ sufferings and death had to be punishment be for someone’s sins; and He didn’t have any, so that leaves ours. Other possibilities don’t even occur to people, so if you challenge the idea that the Passion was for punishment, they next assume you are denying it has any meaning at all, unless maybe only a revelatory one.

Then we have Jesus spitting in the dirt and making a mud ointment for the eyes of the blind man. EEE-yew! Spit! Spit and dirt! But this is Jesus’ saliva, from His deified body, cleansing and sanctifying whatever it touches. The man washes it off as Jesus tells him to, and comes back seeing.

And what’s interesting to me is, the man knew how to use his newly-given sight! I once read a true account of a 20th-Century man born blind, who received his sight through modern surgical techniques. But he didn’t know what to do with it. That is, he couldn’t tell, by looking at something, that it was round or soft or green. His brain had never made those connections between vision and shape, vision and texture, vision and color, and so forth, that we all teach small children. He found the visual input nothing but confusing, even alarming. It was easier for him to revert to getting through life the way he always had. Eventually that is what he did, never using his sight at all. But that does not happen to the man in this story; when Jesus heals, He heals thoroughly. This man understands perfectly well what he is seeing.

His neighbors bring Him to the Pharisees. Now this is not the first time the Pharisees have encountered the idea that Jesus is Messiah, and they have already agreed to throw out of the synagogue anyone who confesses this. So when the man tells them this Jesus has healed him, they have a problem. They ask, “How can a man who is a sinner do such things?” And yet, (playing the specious Sabbath card), a sinner he must be, because he had done this miracle on the Sabbath, when it was not lawful to work.

They decide to see what the man himself thinks – as if that is going to help their dilemma.

Sure enough, it doesn’t. “He is a prophet,” says the once-blind man. A prophet may not be Messiah, but a prophet still outranks a Pharisee and thus still threatens the Pharisees’ position as the religious leaders and heads of the synagogues – with all the power, prestige, and wealth that goes along with that role. In other words, a prophet still threatens their whole lifestyle, all they value. (Yes, that's what they care about. No, they don’t value the Sabbath, or give a spit about theology or the things of God in general; they are just using bogus theological issues to challenge Jesus; that’s why He used to call them hypocrites.)

But this alarming story of sight being given has got to be fake, somehow, some way! Nobody ever heard of a man born blind receiving his sight! Call the parents. Just maybe they will say, “We aren’t sure this is our son,” or “It’s he, but he was never blind; he was faking it because he’s a beggar.” Or even if they say, “It’s our son and he is blind, but he wasn’t always,” then there’s room to make some sort of a case for chicanery on Jesus’ part.

The parents do not want to sin by lying, but neither do they want to get into trouble. They throw the question right back. "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself." We weren’t there and it's a bit silly asking us what happened, don't you think? He was there and he's an adult; ask him.

Time to try some intimidation. Call the man back. Give the glory to God and not to Jesus, they exhort him. Jesus is a sinner.

That, I wouldn’t know, says the man, cautiously. All I know is, I was blind, now I see!

Okay, let’s go over this story one more time, see if we can find a loophole somewhere. "What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?"

But now they’ve really irked this man, who is getting tired of being in the middle of the Pharisees’ personal Power Preservation Project. He can’t resist; he becomes sarcastic. Why do you want to hear it yet again – so you can become His disciples? He knows that's the opposite of they want; they want to be above Him! And recognized as such; their status and wealth and privilege depend upon being the top dogs.

At that, the Pharisees really step in it. They make themselves utterly ridiculous. “We are Moses’ disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; this fellow, we do not know where He is from."

You, the most learned men in Israel, don’t know where He is from? Of course you do! Why, anybody can see Who He is! Common Sense 101: “Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind.” Duh! They have already realized that. That's their problem! Theology 101: “If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing." Duh, they have just beeing saying the same thing among themselves. The once-blind man, now so fed up with their hypocrisy he has thrown away caution, tells them, What a marvel, that you do not know where He is from! He's got to be, at the very least, the greatest prophet who ever lived.

The Pharisees are enraged. Are you, the complete sinner, teaching us? (Well, but you asked, didn't you, who I think this Jesus is? And you have just professed more ignorance than a common sinner has.)

They throw him out.

Then Jesus goes and finds him and reveals Himself to Him, and now the man couldn’t care less that he has been thrown out of the synagogue. He sees! And he has seen the Messiah! He has received both his physical and his spiritual sight.

But the Pharisees? Some that were with Jesus asked Him, “Are we blind also?”

Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see.' Therefore your sin remains.”

He means the same thing St. Paul meant when he wrote, “Where there is no law, sin is not imputed.” (Romans 5:13) It is also an echo of what Jesus had earlier said, “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” (John 3:19) Mere blindness or ignorance can be remedied and had the Pharisees’ blindness been innocent, this event would have cured it. But willful blindness cannot be cured unless our will changes, and it condemns us. Even the vision of the flesh could see exactly Who Jesus was and it was with full awareness of that the Pharisees were denying Him. “We see.” But their sin, and their spiritual blindness, remained unhealed.

.

Orwellian "Truth"

Fact Number Seven: If you oppose the killing of innocent, helpless unborn babies today, you are labeled as a cruel, unthinking extremist.

However, if you support the murder of these babies through abortion, the world will call you caring and “pro-choice…”

Fact Number Eight: If you say that Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” that is, that He is the only way to God because He is Himself the One, true God, the world will not hesitate to call you unenlightened, intolerant, and a fanatic.

If, on the other hand, you say that there are many ways to God (and thus call Jesus a liar), you are called broad-minded and tolerant.

Fact Number Nine: If you challenge dishonest practices in the workplace, they will call you a whistleblower and a troublemaker.

But if you go along with dishonesty and help cover it up, they will bless you and call you “one of the boys” or “a good team player.”

-Fr. Anthony M. Coniaris, Whatever Happened to Truth? (Light and Life Publishing Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2004), pp. 9-10.

What to do if you Find a Bird

If you’re outside during the spring season, sooner or later you will probably find a bird or injured animal. For most of us, our first reaction is to adopt the helpless creature. First, ask yourself is it injured? Is it really an orphaned baby? Nine times out of ten the answer is no! Look for nests in nearby trees and shrubs. They are usually well hidden and hard to get to. If you can find the nest, simply put the bird back. It is a myth that the parents will not care for young birds that have been touched by human hands. In fact, birds have a poor sense of smell. Case in point, great horned owls kill and eat skunks without even noticing their overpowering stench.

Baby birds have an overwhelming percentage of survival in the wild. If kidnapped, that percentage drops dramatically! In fact, while in the wild baby birds will often leave the nest at 12-14 days and be completely on their own within 2 more weeks. If taken to a licensed rehabilitator, that time is increased by weeks. While it takes the parents approximately 4 weeks to cut their apron strings, a rehabilitator will have a bird in their care for at least 6-8 weeks. Take into consideration that a rehabber will have many birds during a breeding season.

Also, do not attempt to raise a baby bird yourself. If you should decide to take this on, all but three species of birds (starlings, house sparrows and pigeons) are federally protected and it is illegal.

Consider the following as well: Nestlings must be fed every 15-20 minutes from sunrise to sunset. Providing a proper diet, clean living quarters, and fresh water daily are essential to a bird’s survival. Adult birds teach their young where to look for food and how to avoid predators. These things are impossible for a human to do.

Here are some guidelines to follow should you find a distressed bird:

FOUND A BABY BIRD:

If the young bird is found, leave it be and observe him from a distance. His parents will find him and you should notice the baby being fed within the hour. If not, contact our Hotline 804-598-8380 for a local licensed rehabilitator.

If he is in immediate danger of outdoor pets, scoop him up and put in a nearby bush or shrub out of harm's way. Put your pet inside or somewhere it cannot harm the bird and keep an eye out for predators.

If you find a baby with little or no feathers and you know where the nest is, then return the bird to it’s nest, if the nest is out of reach call our Hotline 804-598-8380 for assistance.

If the baby/fledgling is cold to the touch, take it inside to warm before placing back in the nest.

Nestle the bird in a warm towel or use a hot water bottle with a towel between the bird and the bottle. You may also use a heating pad on the lowest setting with a towel between the bird and the pad.

Place the bird in a warm, dark and quiet place away from children and pets. This is not a time for show and tell; it will only stress the bird and possibly cause death.
Do not attempt to feed baby birds or fledglings. If not properly fed, they could drown. There is a small opening in their tongue that could get blocked.

If you cannot find the nest or the bird appears to be sick, injured or your pet brought the bird home still alive, then contact our Hotline 804-598-8380 for a licensed rehabilitator.

BIRD NEST DESTROYED:
If the nest has been destroyed, you can construct a makeshift nest using a small basket or Cool Whip type of container. Put holes in the bottom of container for drainage (before putting the bird(s) in it). Line the container with material from old nest or dry grass or leaves. Wire your nest to a branch or place it security in a branch fork close to or in the same spot as the old nest. The parents will still care for the birds if they are able. Place birds into new nest. Do not attempt to feed baby birds or fledglings.

FOUND BIRD TANGLED:
If the bird is caught in something simple; such as twine or string have someone assist you in: Holding the bird in a clean towel; Using baby scissors, gently cut knots out of the string/twine. If there is no signs of other injuries; return bird back to bush or shrub; Any signs of injury, then contact our Hotline 598-8380 for a licensed rehabilitator.

FOUND BIRD WITH WING INJURY:
If a bird allows you to catch it and does not attempt to fly away then it probably needs assistance.

If blood or bone is showing it probably will need assistance.
Place bird in a small box with lid and contact our Hotline 804-598-8380 for a licensed rehabilitator.

BIRD COATED IN OIL OR GLUE:
If bird is fully coated in oil or rubber material; contact our Hotline 804-598-8380 for a licensed rehabilitator. Do not attempt to remove the oil or cut the feathers.
If you are not able to contact a rehabilitator you may try a small amount of Dawn dish detergent on the feathers and rinse in warm water. However, this can cause much stress on a bird and it is best that a trained rehabilitator handle it. The bird must be kept warm to alleviate shock.
Place bird in a small box and contact a licensed rehabilitator

BIRD LYING ON ITS SIDE:
If the bird is alive but not standing contact our Hotline 804-598-8380 for a licensed rehabilitator.

FOUND A BIRD'S EGG:
If wind knocked an egg out of nest;
And you can locate the nest, gently place egg back into nest.
If nest cannot be found, place egg under a small shrub or bush.
Do not try to incubate or keep the egg for any reason. Chances of survival are very slim and it is illegal to keep any portion on a bird’s nest or a bird itself.

BIRD CAUGHT IN MOUSE TRAP:
If bird is caught in a sticky mouse trap, use a small amount of oil to remove the bird from the trap. Do not cut the feathers to remove. Once the bird is free, contact our Hotline 804-598-8380 for a licensed rehabilitator.

BIRD CAUGHT IN HOUSE:
If bird is caught in house;
Lock up all pets;
Darken room by closing blinds, shades, doors;
Leave only one exit (large, bright, sunny) opening for the bird to escape.
You may also wait until evening when the bird relaxes for sleep, gather the bird and place in a small box until morning. Release first thing.

The above is from our local wildlife rehabilition organization. But it's likely a comparable group exists near you, and even has a hotline you can call.

Quote from St. Augustine

I found this quoted without any particulars as to the exact source, but it's one of those so-o-o true things...

"If you believe in the Gospel only what you like, and reject what you don't like, it is not the Gospel you believe, but yourself."

.

"Lucky Egg"

“My sister is a cold-hearted bitch,” said my fellow rehabber over the phone on Monday.

I laughed. “Well, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I mean, she used to step on chickens when we were little, on purpose.”

“That’s too bad.”

“Anyway, yesterday she found a baby bird. Naked, eyes still shut. And what do you think she did with it? She left it right there, where she had found it, all night long! I told her, ‘You can’t DO that, just like you can’t do that to a human baby!’ Well, this morning she goes back and guess what? The thing is still alive!”

“Tell her to bring it here,” I said, anticipating. I have not taken any wild creatures since my mother’s surgery. I’ve realized my life is not going to be conducive to much of that sort of thing, after all, for a while.

“I just wanted to be sure it was okay with you first.”

“It’s fine.” It's my friend's sister. Have to take it.

“Okay, here’s her number. Now don’t bawl her out, alright?”

“Of course not.”

“BE GENTLE!” I had to laugh at those words, coming from a lesbian.

“I’ll just thank her for bringing it,” I assured her.

And that’s how it happened that this woman showed up, 40 minutes later, with a 4-day-old hatchling in hand. It looked just like these.


“We fed it,” she said; then seeing the alarm on my face, quickly added, “Following my sister’s instructions.” And she described what she had done.

“That’s good,” I said. “I’ll do my best.”

“What kind of bird is it?” she wanted to know.

“Not sure yet. I’ll call when I know.”

“Okay. Well, thank you!” and she and her girlfriend turned to leave. “Oh, by the way, we’ve named it ‘Lucky Egg.’”

Lucky Egg felt cold in my hand. Quick, warm it up! I had the heating pad and Kleenex nest all prepared. My guests crowded ‘round; we were in the middle of a Memorial Day cookout.

“Is it going to live?”

“I don’t think so,” I said, with a sigh.

“Why do think that?” asked Demetrios.

“Because it just doesn’t feel right in my hand. Doesn’t feel like a healthy bird.”

“How does it feel?” he persisted. Some doctor I’d make, if all I could say was the patient didn’t look right. Stop, think. Exactly what’s wrong with the way it feels, besides being chilled? It feels more like an autumn leaf than a bird.

“Dried out!” I exclaimed. “Dehydrated!”

Quick, pump it full of fluids. No, wait. Wait until it’s warmed. It can’t take the fluids until then.

Once it was warm, it still wouldn’t gape. I had to pry its beak open, very gently of course, and squirt a few drops of my bird soup down its throat, which it managed to swallow. But by night, the poor thing didn’t want to eat any more. Well, they don’t eat at night, so maybe that’s okay, I told myself.

Tuesday morning I woke up at dawn and reached over to the nightstand and uncovered the bird’s little box. Lucky Egg was still alive! Barely, it seemed, but still moving. I forced another two bites down its mouth.

Then, greatly to my surprise, it perked up. It began chirping, the softest, sweetest, most musical chirp, and opening its mouth for food, and eating eagerly.

Now it was worth trying to identify the species, if possible. Feet: not webbed. Rule out water birds. Size: rule out Robins and anything larger. Rule out Sparrows and anything smaller. It’s something in between. Beak: narrow, delicate, sharp. Not long enough for a Woodpecker; not robust like Finches’ beaks. An insect eater. Mouth: yellow inside. Flange (soft lip around beak): yellow, not huge, as in Robins or Starlings. Down: long and dark gray on head. Rule out anything bald at hatching. Skin color: dark coral. Blue-gray tinge to wings. A Bluebird? Hope leaped in my chest. I’ve never raised a Bluebird before.

It’s now the fifth day I’ve had Lucky Egg, and there’s no longer any doubt. It’s a Bluebird! I’m having a ball with it. A few more days and we’ll be able to tell by the wing feathers whether Lucky Egg is a he or a she.

When that happens, just maybe I’ll give this bird a new name.



This is what Lucky Egg looks like today. You can find a whole series of pictures of baby Bluebirds, from hatching until fledging, here.

INSTANT UPDATE (now that I examine this photo more carefully): Look to the left of the naked bird in the center. Do you see that patch of bright blue, near the bottom? That's the wing of a male. Lucky Egg doesn't have that. Gotta be a girl!
.