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26 snails and a bird
Jul. 23rd, 2023 08:37 pmJitteringly humid sort of day today but i got myself out the door with cherries and yellow plums a mug of jasmine tea. took a short walk towards a little park nearby with the hazy intent of reviewing my latin textbook from years ago.
it's been rainy -- hence, humidity -- but wow i could not have expected that many snails. absolutely outrageous volume of snail out. spent more time shifting guys onto leaves and out of foot traffic's way than i did at the park. this is also partially because i forgot a pen.
and then i met a bigger guy! adolescent cardinal taking a nap... on the sidewalk. called a friend (who calls anymore?? i am a strong objecter to this new sort of convention and so is the friend but she was still a bit bemused. maybe i should be the caller i wish to see in the world) who turned out to have no better information than i did regarding what to do about a possibly-injured-bird situation. all i know is you dont touch it or the parents won't come.
kind of started to call my city's wildlife people, but the guy who lives in the house attached to the bird's piece of sidewalk came around with his little kid and let me know there's a cardinal nest nearby so ehh he's just hoping for the best. and reminded me/mostly his daughter about not getting people-scent on youmg birds. went on to my park definitely-not-gently-sobbing about the bird.
but what ho!! along my return route, (very shortly after arriving to the park. see: forgot my pen. but there was an elderly couple playing pingpong and they were lovely) for which i took the opposite side of the road, so i could decide in the moment whether i wanted to look or not-look for the bird, i in fact looked for the bird and it was gone! the sidewalk was bird-free and in fact also bird-fragment-free. i have decided to take this as meaning the bird flew away. when i first saw it, its wings seemed fine -- if anything it just seemed a bit sleepy -- so i will believe that it was taking a nap in an ineptly chosen location and flew away when it had gotten its rest. that's my story. hurrah!
so thrilled was i for the bird that i counted all the snails in one residence's strip of sidewalk-adjacent soil. there were 26. that's a lot of snails.
it's been rainy -- hence, humidity -- but wow i could not have expected that many snails. absolutely outrageous volume of snail out. spent more time shifting guys onto leaves and out of foot traffic's way than i did at the park. this is also partially because i forgot a pen.
and then i met a bigger guy! adolescent cardinal taking a nap... on the sidewalk. called a friend (who calls anymore?? i am a strong objecter to this new sort of convention and so is the friend but she was still a bit bemused. maybe i should be the caller i wish to see in the world) who turned out to have no better information than i did regarding what to do about a possibly-injured-bird situation. all i know is you dont touch it or the parents won't come.
kind of started to call my city's wildlife people, but the guy who lives in the house attached to the bird's piece of sidewalk came around with his little kid and let me know there's a cardinal nest nearby so ehh he's just hoping for the best. and reminded me/mostly his daughter about not getting people-scent on youmg birds. went on to my park definitely-not-gently-sobbing about the bird.
but what ho!! along my return route, (very shortly after arriving to the park. see: forgot my pen. but there was an elderly couple playing pingpong and they were lovely) for which i took the opposite side of the road, so i could decide in the moment whether i wanted to look or not-look for the bird, i in fact looked for the bird and it was gone! the sidewalk was bird-free and in fact also bird-fragment-free. i have decided to take this as meaning the bird flew away. when i first saw it, its wings seemed fine -- if anything it just seemed a bit sleepy -- so i will believe that it was taking a nap in an ineptly chosen location and flew away when it had gotten its rest. that's my story. hurrah!
so thrilled was i for the bird that i counted all the snails in one residence's strip of sidewalk-adjacent soil. there were 26. that's a lot of snails.
