"This is love: to fly toward a secret sky,
to cause a hundred veils to fall each moment.
First, to let go of life.
In the end, to take a step without feet;
to regard this world as invisible,
and to disregard what appears to be the self.
Heart, I said, what a gift it has been
to enter this circle of lovers,
to see beyond seeing itself,
to reach and feel within the breast."
~Rumi
So it seems my vacations this year are determined to include traumatic episodes.... [emoji45] This latest trip was 90% amazing: I kayaked for only my second time and saw wild ponies, and biked and hiked some gorgeous trails.
...and then this happened...
The B&B where I stayed is owned by a lovely, kind, generous couple. I was sitting inside the screened-in porch, curled up in the porch swing and chatting amiably with Teresa, one of the owners.
Outside hanging from a tree was a bug catcher that her husband had recently bought. It kind of looks like a hanging cylindrical bird feeder made of (what I thought was) fine mesh. There are a LOT of mosquitos in that area. I didn't know how it worked and hadn't really given it much thought...
Suddenly to my dismay we saw a tiny gray bird, stuck in this contraption. My heart dropped, and I knew I had to save him - I thought his wings were stuck in the mesh somehow. I rushed outside, and to my absolute horror saw that this was made entirely of glue.
I got the thing off the hook and onto the ground. The poor frantic bird kept fluttering, crying out and getting more stuck on this nasty thing. I felt panicked and scared, didn't want to hurt him and OMG how was I to fix this??
I gently wrapped my hand around him to keep him steady, he bit me gently (he was a tiny thing) and I told him go ahead... I understand you're scared and hurt, but he soon got quiet. The whole time I was speaking to him over and over "It's all right sweet thing, I'm going to get you out" - probably to calm myself as much as him.
This was horribly sticky glue, and you know how delicate feathers are. There were a ton already pulled out of him, stuck in the glue. I had to work each feather out, so scared to hurt him.... my fingers would get stuck!! That's how sticky it was. I managed to work each feather out somehow, and lastly his little foot.
He sort of clumsily launched himself from my hand, hopping and sort of flying low and propelled himself into a wooded area filled with fallen, dried leaves. He still had glue stuck on ends of feathers, I didn't know how many feathers he had left (there were so many stuck in the trap!
), was afraid bits of leaves would get stuck in the glue and would he be able to fly?? Were his wings broken?? I looked for him but couldn't find him... My heart was pounding, my hands were shaking....Teresa was also aghast at this thing - she didn't know it was glue. When John got home and she told him he hugged me. She said she was bringing it back to the store to show them. I'm sure the bird thought it was a bird feeder... It had that look. The design is flawed and the glue should have been surrounded by a protective shield somehow. [emoji49]
I looked for him a couple times, but he might have been under leaves so I didn't want to risk stepping on him. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it, and worried about the sweet little bird. Did he survive? Is he in pain?
So I created this... and send him love and light... and am trying to stop thinking about it... [emoji27]
(image made with ProCreate, Mextures, Trigraphy, Image Blender, Snapseed)
This is the sort of thing that happens to me (and I thought only happens to me). Poor you and poor little bird. The awful thing is that these would have been sold to others who might not be quite so environmentally friendly or care that birds can get stuck in it. In fact, anything could get stuck on it, not just flies - butterflies, moths and other insects that aren't a nuisance. Terrible contraptions. But, console yourself with the fact that you were there to extracate the bird from this thing. It's got more of a chance of surviving than it had if you hadn't been there. You did a good deed.
)