Baby Blue Charisma Everard   © Copyright 2023 by Charisma Everard

Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.

Thud! Straight in front of me beneath the tree I saw a clump of branches, made into a nest, fall right out of the tree. The little beaks poked above the brim, and reached high gapping for food. I walked over to investigate, not seeing any parental figure in sight I quickly decided I needed to be their new mother. Being around the age of fifteen at the time I didn’t know better at the time to let nature take care of it, although I thought I was making a great decision. There were three little guys, not pretty ones at that, big yellow beaks and big bulging eyes sealed shut. Assuming they just hatched they had to be starving, what could they possibly eat when they are in that egg? Maybe that’s why they look so appalling. Having no clue what to do I called the only person I could think of, my best friend. 

“Guess what?”

“What?”

“I found three baby blue jays, and I need you to come over and help me with them right now!”

“Say no more.”

She had arrived with a loaf of bread, and I honestly did not question it one bit until she started soaking it in water. “Take this!” she commanded as she passed me a piece of soggy bread, the birds couldn’t get enough of it. We continued to feed them bread daily and they were actually thriving, but the smell that accumulated from the soggy bread was absolutely atrocious. Instant gag reflex, the smell gets stuck in your throat like moldy cheese and you can't help it but to cover your nose. One time I walked in to feed the birds and my best friend was in there with a clothes line pin on her nose. We could not take it anymore so we came up with a plan. Step one relocation, step two get the mother to take her babies back, and step three relax. Relocation was in order and we headed out the front door, immediately being greeted by the mother bird. 

Mother bird was not happy to see us holding her babies and decided she was going to make us pay for what we did. The Blue Jay dove down directly at us once we got to the middle of the yard, squawking and flapping fiercely. We ran faster than lightning back inside screaming, slamming the door behind. We had no plan B so we had to figure out what it was going to be. “Got it” I shouted. Coming up with the plan was the easy part, doing it was almost unbearable. I told her to run outside and put the nest down on the ground and run back in. Grinning from ear to ear as I watched her put her life on the line, I couldn't help laughing when she was on her way back inside, the bird was even more mad this time and managed to nip at her. To our surprise after the mother bird realized we had touched her kin, she no longer wanted them. She abandoned them once again. Here we were stuck feeding them soggy bread and occasionally digging up a nice worm to feed them, if we could find one. 

The birds were doing phenomenal, and we wanted to go on vacation so we let someone else care for them while we were away. They died. We hosted a funeral for them with pieces of bread for their tombstones, which ironically their mother ended up eating. In the end the birds were never meant to be helped and would have ended in the same tragic way, we just delayed the inevitable.

*****

Charisma Rei Serenity Everard is a 19 year old woman trying to find her passion, with only a high school diploma to show. She has an interest in many hobbies such as painting, writing, knitting and taking care of animals. This story is the only story she's ever submitted.