Bexley, Ohio
(My next few posts will be out of order chronologically as I catch up with our last days at Thousand Palms Oasis Preserve and my first post pandemic visit to Oliver and Reagan Land.)
I finally bloom with joy just because I am able to travel to Ohio again safely after sequestering in California during the pandemic!
Faelan and I take a walk through Bexley in late March.
Scenes from the backyard…
…a cardinal, Ohio’s state bird, Jen’s new raised vegetable beds, and buds on the sweet gum tree…
And the sad tale of a robin with lock jaw…
The family wakes up on the last Saturday in March. Jen takes Faelan outside for his morning pee and she notices a robin with its beak open standing next to the steps… just standing there like a statue… frozen… motionless… for a long time… Jen calls the rest of the family over to witness this strange phenomenon, questioning whether robin red breast is alive or not, and wondering what to do. As the bird still hasn’t moved, Jen decides it is dead and proceeds to get a shovel and garbage bag to move it. Brian goes out to assist her. I’m inside with Oliver and Reagan, when all of a sudden we hear 2 loud screams! As Jen approaches the robin, the bird flutters its wings, ascends several feet into the air, and lands in the side of the yard.
Obviously, the bird is alive but its beak is still open. It tries to peck for insects in the grass and flower beds. Reagan is both concerned and a little scared as the robin hops around the back yard seeming to follow her.
I quickly search Google for an answer to why a robin cannot close its beak. I learn a stressed bird will have its mouth open and pant. But there’s no panting here. Did he or she fly into something that caused trauma to its beak? Possibly…
Oliver brings a plate of blue tortilla chips outside for a snack but abandons it. Reagan runs inside and brings out a bowl of water and we watch as the robin tries to desperately peck at the chips but his beak won’t close. The robin hobbles its way across the yard and eventually flies away.
Reagan and I hope the robin gets better and we dream that he does!
wandering gypsy Laurel 