A 2022 Summer Story

A highlight of a hot, dry summer was my brief friendship with a baby magpie who fell out of the nest. I found her one June Sunday morning prostrate on the ground under the nest twenty feet up.  I didn't expect her to live so I put her in a small box lined with fresh grass and put her on a limb under the nest and thought she'd expire peacefully, not terrorized by cats. But she lived and later on that day started moving and opening her mouth for food. I figured out what baby magpies might eat besides bugs from an internet bird rescue site. I fixed her hard boiled egg, cooked oatmeal and water soaked cat food. I got a big cage from a neighbor and John fastened it under the branch of the tree. So I'd feed her every hour or two. She grew and feathered out. To make the story short. After about a week she was strong enough to join her five other siblings.  And one morning they were all gone, flown off to the hills where it is cooler. Maybe she'll come back next spring.  Her name is Bubbi, if you see her around.