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(Click on photo to enlarge) Seems everyone wants to know about the bird on my guitar. Yes, he is a real Mocking bird. His or her name is PEC. It stands for Poop, Eat and Chirp. PEC and his nest mate fell out of a tree one afternoon. I waited for a long time for the mother bird to come and care for them. She never did. One of the birds didn't make it and PEC was not looking good. Dehydrated and with only a short time to live, I decided to do my best to care for him. I found a worm and crushed it up and fed it to PEC with a little bit of water. He soon perked up. That night, he spent his time in a small shoe box with a Kleenex nest and his own little hot water bottle. I wasn't sure that a featherless little bird could survive the ordeal. My fears were laid to rest when I checked on PEC in the morning. When I lifted the cover off the shoe box, I was greeted with an open chirping beak. Birds and fish eat a lot of the same things, bugs, worms and small aquatic stuff. So I figured what was good for fish should be good for birds. I mixed some dog food, fish food, and worms into a mocking bird shake and used a McDonalds straw to simulate a mother bird's beak. It worked like a charm. PEC took the food and begged for more. Parents think that a human baby needs a lot of diaper changing. A small bird needs clean tissue 20 times a day. We survived the first week by PEC riding with me everywhere I went in my truck. I had to feed him about every 15 minutes. It was a full time job just changing tissues and dripping food in PEC's mouth. The reward was getting to see peck pop his first feathers. It was so cool. My son had feathers! By now, as you've guessed, I was a little attached.
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PEC and I had a lot of great adventures over the next few weeks. The picture on my web site was a totally spontaneous event. I was playing my guitar and PEC jumped up on my knee, then my arm, then up the neck of my guitar. He liked to be close to my face for some reason, and loved to sit on my shoulder. Maybe he was part parrot! The first time I had to leave him completely unattended, my wife and I set up our spare bathroom as a temporary aviary. We left PEC with some water, a full belly, and a small plate of fresh strawberries. PEC showed particular delight in picking apart a strawberry. What I didn't realize, is that 5 or 6 strawberries is more than a little bird's belly can handle. I'm not sure what was on the walls, ceilings, and floors when we got home, but our white and blue bathroom was now mostly strawberry red and PEC's whole face was dyed red. What a sight! It was interesting to get that intimate with a wild creature. The connection I felt was both affectionate and parental. It was surprising to me that I could have that kind of depth of emotions for a small bird. And just like a child, I watched PEC accomplish his milestones. I watched him fly for the first time. First he flew just a few feet and soon to the top of the trees. I watched him catch his first bug. It was amazing. Instinct just took over. He was sitting on my shoulder and a cicada flew through our back yard. PEC took off like a rocket and caught him in mid air. His first self sufficient meal. It was time for me to stop helping. PEC never really spent nights on his own outside for my fear of cats. But I had a plan to introduce him to sleeping outside. I set up my large 5-man tent and hung a branch inside the tent for a perch. PEC and I spent the next three nights in the great outdoors. On the fourth night, I stayed in the tent and PEC slept above me in an oak tree. No cats, no problems. PEC was ready. Over the next couple of weeks, Leah and I were greeted by PEC landing on our heads every time we returned home. Leah use to hate that because PEC would fly straight at your face and then at the last second he would swoop up and gently land on your head. But little by little, he spent less and less time with us. Then one day... he was gone. As it should be. I admit there was a part of me that hoped he would stick around. But I will always have the gift of the time I spent with PEC.
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