The fledgling was continuously flapping its wings. It didn’t know what to do! We tried several times, but it was not ready to listen. After a while, it got tired and started falling asleep. I then gently took it in my hands and put it in the box. What a relief! I then took some ear buds and tried to feed it some milk. At first, it was scared... but slowly, it started opening its mouth and drank all of the milk! I was so happy! But I thought something was missing. The bird kept flapping its wings and chirping loudly. Was it hungry again?



I tried to feed it, but it moved to a corner and closed its eyes like it was telling me that it was full. But then I realized something. The lights were on at night, so the bird was feeling it was morning! I quickly turned off the lights and went to bed...



In the morning, probably around 6 am, I heard a soft chirp. The bird was up! I quickly got up from bed and fed the bird some milk. It gulped it down. Then I went to tell my parents it was awake. I was about to go downstairs when I heard my mom call out to me. What she told me made my smile fade. The bird’s parents were there again, chirping loudly and finding their child. I hesitated for a moment, then I thought about how important it was for the bird to go back to its home. It was finally time to go.....
© Jessica Kiite