Little Chicken

I know, I know, this is not a chicken! Thought I should say that first before you all decided that I had gone crazy or something. :P

Little Chicken is what I named the bird. The cutest bird ever! And...the first wild bird I've ever held in my life! But I'll start from the beginning. 

I was making my breakfast in the kitchen and right after I had thrown my eggshells in the garbage can, a shrill cheap, cheap, cheap started. Looking out the window, I saw a little brown lump on the deck railing. Of course, I went outside to see what it was! :)

There sat a small fluffy brown bird. As I stepped outside, it immediately saw me. But instead of flying away, it just sat there and continued chirping. I stepped closer. It sat there. Finally, I was only a foot away. That's when I decided that the bird was probably a baby bird, since adult birds usually don't let people get so close to them!

The bird flew away after we had stared at each other for awhile. So I went back inside and started beating my eggs. And then came the incessant cheap, cheap, cheap again! This time it was coming from the front of the house, by the basketball net. I went out and tried to find the bird. But because it's brown feathers blended in well with the dead leaves on the ground, I had a difficult time locating it. Sitting down on a rock, with crushed corn in my hand, I waited and strained my eyes trying to find the bird in all that foliage. A bit of corn fell out of my hand and landed on the ground. Immediately, leaves crackled as the bird quickly hopped toward me. The first thought that flashed through my head was since when did wild birds come toward you?? Really, it seemed so weird, since never, in all my life has a wild bird come to me!

Little Chicken had trouble eating the corn, probably because it was too hard. I got up and walked to the deck to see if I could find anything else. Imagine my surprise when, looking behind me, I found the bird following me, hopping as fast as it could! Then I remembered with horror that Maple, the dog, was lying on the deck! If she found the bird, it would be as good as dead. I instantly ran up the deck and put her in the house. The bird stayed in the driveway and chirped. . .and chirped. . .and chirped :)

While inside, I grabbed my camera, attached the telephoto lens, and rushed back outside again. 

Yay! I managed to capture a picture with her beak open! ;)

She's sooo cute, don't you think?

If ever a bird could have a double chin, I'd say this is the closest it could get! 

And can you believe it? Little Chicken actually let me hold her! By this time, everyone knew that I had found a wild baby bird and were all rushing out to see it. Okay, so I almost freaked out when Dare Devil ran forward and almost stepped on her, but. . . it was almost, so I didn't freak out. :P My heart did skip a beat though!

It's almost impossible to try and describe the delight of holding her. Little Chicken was so light and fluffy, and her tiny feet would curl around my finger and cling tightly to it as she perched there. And she didn't even try to fly away! 

You're probably wondering why I named her Little Chicken, am I right? :) Well, these are my two reasons. 1. Mom kept calling her a chicken :P  2. I had read a book called Freckles (which, by the way, is a really good book!) and the main character, Freckles, had found and tamed a wild bird and called it. . . you guessed it! Little Chicken. :D