In the United States, the celebration of Mother’s Day is kept alive mostly by the advertising of merchants. No one with a real stake in motherhood would trivialize motherhood by designating that it be recognized only one day each year.
Today, a baby crow got blown out of a tree in front of my house. My neighbor, who was walking her dogs, stopped to help the baby bird. She picked up the baby crow and put it on her shoulder.
Her plan was to walk it to her house, feed it, and watch it fly away a few days later, after it learned how to fly. This first tale is a story of adoptive motherhood.
But this post is actually two stories of motherhood. The second story is represented by the constant cries of distress by the baby crow’s mother up in a nearby tree. Biological motherhood in action.
My neighbor knew that this was a baby crow (I didn’t), knew that its wings weren’t broken (I didn’t) and knew what to do with a healthy baby crow who fell out of a tree (I didn’t). She told me that she has helped baby crows like this before. In her experience, when she carries home a baby crow in distress, the parent follows her home, calling out the entire way home.
How many thousands of statues and monuments have we built to honor wars, soldiers and politicians in the U.S.? But is there a single prominent national monument to honor real life mothers in any prominent place in this country? Why not? And on a related note, why do we so readily fund wars, but we fail to make sure that mothers have all of the resources they need to do their critically important job?
Mother Jones is buried outside Litchfield, Illinois in a private, union cemetery operated by the United Mine Workers. Mother Jones' gravestone is a monument to the sacrifices made by so many for us all, like any mother would do for her children.
When I'm really depressed by the virulent corporate facism that masquerades as government in these United States, I pay a visit to Mother Jones and renew my promise to her and my family to make the world better for my having taken up so much space.
out of curiosity, what did she do with the bird, did she bring it back to her house and raise it? or did she simply draw the mother to the baby and re-united them?
Samantha: As I recall, the woman was going to try to nurse the baby bird back to health, then release it to rejoin its mother.
Hi
Just so you know in future, and can let your neighbour know. When a baby crow is fully feathered like this they naturally leave the nest. They have to one day. They take a few days then to learn to fly around with confidence. But you 'must' 'never' take the bird if the mother is around. This is normal crow behaviour and happens to 'all' crows. The mother always feeds the baby on the ground and continues to look after it. The reason the mother kept calling was because it was distraught and the baby would have been stressed. They rarely survive being 'looked after' by humans and it also changes their natural instincts to learn to feed for itself at this crucial stage in it's life. I know people mean well when they try to help but it is the same with any baby bird that has flown the nest. Keep a safe distance, watch for the mother coming back. If she does then walk away. If she doesn't within a good few hours, then it may be possible to intervene, but not before.
Any mother would cry if someone took their baby away, you really should leave it be where the mother is still around as they feed them on the ground
You might be interested in this as well.
http://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/babycrow.htm
It basically says what Marisa said. I am sure a local vet or wildlife centre would have more information.