As faithful readers know, every year at this time I post a rant about people who “help” by picking up fledgling birds who are on the ground and bringing them to me because “the bird can’t fly.” This is the equivalent of taking a baby from his or her stroller and bringing them to Child Protective Services because “the kid can’t walk.” Of course not–it’s a baby. Give it time and it will be running all over the place. The same is true of birds. The youngsters leave the nest before they can fly. They spend a couple of days on the ground figuring out flight controls and then take off (literally). Their parents are guarding them. Leave them alone.
Every year I rant and every year birdnapped fledgling appear at Diva Crows. This year we are taking a different approach: We will induct anyone who prevents a birdnapping into the Order of the Steel Crow. Convincing someone to leave a fledge alone is not for the faint of heart. Only by patiently explaining over and over again that the parents are still feeding the baby even if it doesn’t seem that way can a birdnapping be thwarted. It requires having a backbone and nerves of steel to respond to protests about weather conditions (yes, it may rain and the bird may get wet but its feathers will keep it warm), predators (uh, from the bird’s point of view, that’s what you are, dear sir/madam), or counter-arguments based on advice from a (clueless) neighbor and/or the internet (ugh).
To prove we mean what we say, here is the emblem of our honorable Order: a beautiful crow made of etched steel forged specifically for Diva Crows.
So send us your stories of prevented, thwarted, intercepted, or otherwise foiled birdnappings and we will enter your name into the rolls of Diva Crow’s exclusive and prestigious Order of the Steel Crow.