I've heard about the "Lucky Duck"...

Now meet "Lucky the Sparrow!"

It's 2:15 in the morning on Thursday, July 24. Mousie the cat comes meowing in my bedroom, waking me from my just-barely-fell-asleep-sleep. Nothing abnormal; we have the loudest, most talkative cat you've seen (as long as you haven't seen a siamese cat--he's not quite THAT obnoxious). He meows more, sounding like he's saying "mur-Ow. mur-Ow." Still nothing abnormal...

...until I hear the tiny "squeak! squeak!" one usually associates with a small rodent, a dog's squeak-toy, or the wheel of the shopping cart I've inevitably chosen to push up and down the aisles of Target.

Now, one must keep in mind that a) my hubby has been out of town, and b) we've been finding dead voles and deer mice in our yard on a regular basis, presumably hunted and killed by Jezebel, the neighbor's intrepid hunter of a cat, and Mousie, her ever-present side kick.

So, I find myself thinking, as I get out of bed to locate the "rodent" that's hiding from my cat and my guinea-pig-dog, that "I can't believe I'm getting up at 2:30 am to find a RODENT in my bedroom!" Imagine my surprise when I find that, WHAT?! It's not a rodent at all...

... but a poor little baby sparrow. Juvenile, really. Baby sparrow fluff mixed with adult feathers, unable to fly but able to eat birdseed. Cute. Scared (more like terrified). But alive. (Thank you God, that I didn't have to dispose of bird guts in my bedroom in the middle of the night!) Now, instead, I find myself having to figure out what to do with a living, breathing, possibly - no, probably -injured bird, in the middle of the night, with a cat that is trying to find it and knows it's there. Will it survive the night? Did my cat actually catch it? Did the guinea-pig-dog catch it? Did it fall out of the nest? Was it pushed? Was it running away? Will the cat eat it while I'm sleeping? What do I do? I'm so confused!

This morning, I got up, and the bird was alive. Not only that, but she/he seems to be fairly healthy. Unfortunately, it really isn't able to fly. It falls, more than flys. The kids want to keep "her," but I'm concerned "he" won't survive captivity for very long. (Not only that, but, what if the cat gets sick, and I need his carrier to take him to the vet? Nope. The irony of the bird living in a cat carrier does not escape me.) Ah, we'll see. In the meantime, "her" name is Lucky, and I'm looking for a rescue place for "him." (Have you gotten that we can't decide if it's a he/she yet?)

Here's the link to see her & the girls....
http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=156658672&albumID=1781043&imageID=23287384

Update.... She was released four days later. Flew to a tree, hopped up the trunk & branches.... The kids hold on to the hope that she will come visit us. I hope she does well!