Lament for a Fledgling Bluebird

We were excited to meet you,

To know by your speckled breast you had recently fledged,

To watch your daddy feed you and teach you to fend for yourself,

To see your first attempts at perching on the worm feeder alone. 

You were brave and showed new independence each day. 

You can't know what joy you brought us, or what sorrow, 

when we found you on the pavement beneath the feeder,

Perhaps a victim of a hawk or the neighbor's cat.

If it had to be, I hope your demise was swift,

That you didn't feel fear or pain. 

I bury you in the future strawberry bed, twelve inches deep,

Remembering Nick's words for the cardinal he once buried.

"Here lies a good soldier."  

How did he know what to say at age six? 

I don't know what to say today. 

What is there to say about burying a baby bluebird?

Thank you for nourishing our strawberries?

It doesn't seem like enough. 

Twelve times Nick's age, and not half as profound. 

But just as sad. 

~dkm 

It's a Toad! It's a Bird! It's a Fledgling!

I spied it from the kitchen window, then was able to creep oh so close for a better look. 

Though I wasn't lucky enough to see the arrival, it was surely this youngster's virgin flight from the nest. 

The telltale signs–– that it didn't yet know to fear me or my camera––that it sat so long on the banister without moving––that it's tail had not yet grown out.

I'm not sure whose fledgling it was, but my best guess is a song sparrow, having heard one daily for the past two weeks. I'd be grateful if any birding experts who see this would offer a definitive identification. When I got too close, a parent swooped down over my shoulder and together they flew down into the hedge, too fast for me to identify. Brown back and tail feathers, possibly a stripe over eye. Song sparrow? 

 I often saw a single song sparrow foraging for sunflower seeds under the deck feeders, hopping in and out of the thick hedge along the driveway, but I thought it was just for cover near the seed source. Didn't know they had a nest there. Still don't, actually, but I read they do nest near the ground. Already, I don't see or hear them as often, just four days after this fledgling's debut. They've likely moved on to wider explorations in the world. 

That moment of fledge is sacred in bird world. To witness it is a gift from the universe. It comes only once in every bird's lifetime, as they don't return to the nest, once fledged.  

I've written often about nestwatches of bluebirds and house wrens, those that nest in visible places around the yard, and about that breathtaking first foray. It never gets old. Thank you for indulging me again. 

~dkm