Birds Bathtime.

[mike]

Saw 2 Long Tailed Tits in the garden this afternoon, first ever, on the feeders looking for food.It takes a while for wild birds to suss out how to eat from the feeders, the Blue Tits learn fast, but the Robins and Chaffinch takes a while to learn.The Blackbirds just dont bother, they look for things that fall down from the table on the garden floor, they dont have the know how to work out how to get the food.

[mike]

Good day for me yesterday, two Crows flew past me near the Slough Park in Coventry at 14.52 hours and the one was my friend the Crow with the frozen left leg, with I think a partner with it going the same direction from the M6 going south towards the Park....I dont get much chance now to leave food or chips in the car park at the Slough any more, so I worry its getting enough to eat this weather,sounds silly but I thats how I feel, I say a little pray for it every week and hope it makes it through this bad weather.

[mike]

Last Thursday I saw my friend the Crow again, the one with the frozen leg hanging straight down at 14.52 hours sitting with trouble on the roof top in all that wind.I could see its bad leg hanging down in the way for it, and it was trying hard to stay on the roof,I really find it upsetting I cannot help it live a better life.When I can I leave bread and corn in the car park at the Slough Park, its all I can do really,I know it hangs around there often, and it has a mate with it now as well, thats a comfort to know.

[mike]

While I look every day I havent seen my friend the Crow since middle of March, I fear the worse but I pray for it every night, it was born with such a bad condition to even last one Summer, so its a fighter.Its leg is frozen downward and stiff with both its toes extended straight down, how it moves I just dont know, and landing in trees and on roofs is to me impossible, but it still manages bless it.

[mike]

I need to say here this reply is the entire truth with nothing added...I am SO happy today, I sat in the Slough Park car park at 1.28 today eating my chips and saugage, when my friend the Crow with that frozen leg flew past me just a short distance away, I had thought it was dead bless it after all this time not seeing it...I have said so many prays for this bird with such a cruel condition of that frozen leg hanging straight down including its ankle and toes, just how it manages I have no idea, to feed and move about in trees and on roof tops is beyond me....The Crow was close to the cafe end of Jackers Road, and perhaps it finds scrapes to eat where people buy food for dinner and leave things in the car park.I always stop in the car park and leave chips in case the Crow passes that way, and today it did, I am OVER the moon honest .Since March I have said prays almost every night for its safe keeping, and I thank God he heard me, cause today it flew past,a wonderful thing....I sat in the car park before it came and I asked yet again to know its well,to show me it was alive and well,and this time it flew past,so prays answered.The Crow is different now, its frozen leg is shorter, I think its lost its ankle and the extended toes that hung down,now its like a short stump about half the length of what it was before, so its much better to land on houses and trees I imagine, but I have no idea if it can walk at all.Im a happy happy man today, after being in a dark place for a while, something wonderful happened for me today, and I know our thoughts and prays are heard.

[mike]

YESTERDAY when I was driving home near Bell Green Coventry a Little Egret flew out of the brook/stream alongside the road and flew past me just about 10 feet up, this is the first ever Egret I have seen in my life,what a gift,I went straight home and filled the EURO coupon in,like you would.

[mike]

Spent a little time in the Slough Car park here in Coventry yesterday eating my chips, and looking for my friend the Crow with the deformed leg.I never saw it at all but to be honest not many birds were flying about anyway in that heat.I say a pray all the while for that Crow and its little partner, I just dont know how any bird which cannot walk can keep alive, how does it even get food enough to keep it healthy.Its been 3 years I have watched this Crow, so it manages to live and feed, but how thats what keeps me guessing ? Long may it fly and enjoy life, with that frozen leg hanging down I dont know how it manages anything, Im lost for words really.

[mike]

Not been on the forum for a while but I have an update on the Crow that has the frozen leg, its been ages since I saw the Crow and I was again thinking the worse.But just two weeks ago I went to the Slough car park to eat our chips and as I walked out of the shop a Crow called near me, I looked up and it was my friend and its mate passing overhead at that precise moment.How that happened I dont know, like it was an answer for me to know he was well, they flew over the park and was gone in a moment behind the trees, it left me beaming knowing it was well.And just a couple of days later in the same area I saw it pass over again alone this time, but to know its alive and well is such a comfort at this bad time with the x wife so ill.Life has so many ups and downs, its just nice to know someone hears our voice and offers a helping hand now and then.

[simonwheeler]

[mike]

Very true Simon,good karma sent out is often rewarded and returned.

[EEL]

Glad you saw the crow again. I have a big nest of them in my garden and i feed them most days. Recently, a big storm wrecked their home but they've been busy repairing it. Love them, like all the birds that come to my garden. The Robin kept flying into the house over Christmas and landing on the xmas tree - a right little comedian full of festive cheer. Strength and Peace to you and yours - eel.

[mike]

Yes thanks EEL,my Aunt had a Robin with a deformed beak come in her kitchen when she left the back door open, and she would put bread crumbs down for it.I saw it often when I stayed at her house in Norwich with her family,it would come close to you if you opened your hand with food in it, but never all the way.The beak of the male Robin was twisted so top and bottom beak never fully closed, but it managed to swallow small bits of bread and things just the same, loved that little chap.

[mike]

I noticed this weekend the Jackdaws are picking chimney pots ready for nesting, one pair was sitting on a site when another bird flew up and jumped down the very pot they were guarding.I never saw what happened afterwards as the traffic started moving and I had to leave, but Spring is coming and some early nesting birds Jackdaws and Crows are already picking places where they will return to an old nesting site, or build a new one....I will be glad of the Suns return, Im sure I suffer that SAD condition,as I only feel better once the days stay lighter longer. Never grow old,so many pains and things to slow you down,I can only do the one Iron Man this year,now my legs have gone south, I WISH.

[mike]

A little offline but if you want a good cry read on the Internet Greyfriars Bobby ,its about the love of a Skye Terrier when his master died, and spent the rest of his life guarding his grave...WHAT a dog.

[Grahame]

Now sadly debunked as a Victorian money-making hoax, sorry Mike!
https://retrieverman.net/2011/08/07/the ... as-a-hoax/

Still the statue still brings the tourists into Edinburgh, so let's not knock it!

A similar shaggy dog story (sorry, I couldn't resist the pun) is told in Japan, about a dog named Hachiko who waited for his master every day as he went to work on the train, and there's a statue outside Shibuya station in Tokyo. This story may have more basis in truth than Greyfriar's Bobby.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D