Mondays are for the Birds

I'm not really sure what that phrase, "for the birds," means in general. But at my house, it has meant drama. Lots of drama.

Let's start with last Monday....
After feeding the boys breakfast, I went against my better judgment and went to the bathroom by myself. Not completely by myself mind you. Caden was in there with me. But at least Lucas was playing in the living room and I got to close the door. When I came out after the 30-45seconds it takes me to pee, I smelled something a little funny. I turned to see that Lucas had turned on our gas fireplace. No big deal, right? Just turn it off, you say.... Well, unfortunately some unsuspecting birds had built their nest in the fireplace exhaust vent on the outside of the house. That funny smell I noticed was the twigs and leaves burning, yes burning, on the outside of my townhouse. It took approx. 1min for my whole living room and backyard to fill with smoke. Just long enough for me to send Hubby a text message asking if I should let it burn out or if I needed to involve the fire department. The answer to that became quite clear when it smelled like I was having a bonfire in my living room and I couldn't see the fence out our window due to all the thick smoke. So, I called. And 5min later, sirens and all, 5 firemen arrived in full gear in my living room. They extinguished the birds' nest, cleaned out the vent, and prodded around the fireplace and the attic making sure there was no other sparks anywhere.
My little pyro 3yr old watched in awe with his fire hat on his head as real firefighters tramped through his playroom and in his house (making quite a mess I might add). Lucas thought it was so-very-cool and mama was just happy the house didn't burn down. Oh, the drama.

That brings us to today and more bird-related drama. On a walk last weekend, we noticed that a baby goose at our near-by pond seemed a little injured. Something was stuck on his back. I was worried but thought it would just work itself out. Then yesterday, we visited the pond again to see that he had gotten much worse and had lost use of one of his legs and wings and was having some real issues. So this morning, like a woman on a mission, I started calling around to find someone to help this poor gosling. Animal Care and Control told me they would only send out an agent if I would "trap" the goose with a garbage can or a laundry basket. Seriously?!?! How am I gonna catch a little goose with mama goose right there waiting to peck me to death? Isn't that why we have things like animal control? So I called a local wildlife rescue center and they too told me that I would have to catch the little guy and bring him to them. Foolishly, I convinced Hubby to go down to the pond with me and we tried to catch this goose. Tried. It wouldn't come anywhere close to me and his mama was, as expected, very protective. Oh, well. I tried. But, I couldn't let it go. It was heart-breaking to see this little guy hurting and unable to get around. I started making more calls and ended up talking to this lady with the Chicago Bird Collision Monitors, a branch of the Chicago Audubon Society. They rescue 2000 birds a year and she was more than willing to come help me rescue this little gosling. To make a very long story short, it took me and two professionals and a few other men from the neighborhood almost 2 hours but we eventually caught the injured goose and took him to the wildlife rescue center for some medical attention. You should have seen me and these two ladies in their 50s running around the pond trying to herd these geese and get the baby close enough to be caught by their 10ft. net. Probably pretty hilarious to bystanders. But in the end, we caught him and I am feeling pretty proud of myself that I stuck it out and didn't quit until I found someone to help me rescue this injured animal. He had a make-shift dart made from a McDonalds straw lodged in his back under his wing. They think he'll be ok but it depends if he gets use back of his right wing and leg. Poor guy.

So those are my bird-drama stories. Hopefully now my bird karma is all even and next monday is free of any aviary issues.


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