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photo ©Dylan Edwards

One day while I was out walking by the creek I heard a distressed peeping coming from somewhere down in the water. There are no banks to speak of, though there are a lot of little shelves dug into the side of the wall by turtles. It was on one of these shelves I found a sopping wet fledgling grackle, clearly frightened and lost.

photo ©Dylan Edwards

Not sure what to do, I walked home with the little grackle (who was also very hungry and kept demanding that I feed it) to call the wildlife service for advice. They themselves wouldn't want the grackle since they're hardly endangered species, but I figured they would at least know what to do. While I talked to them on the phone I stashed the grackle in a cardboard box. Tired from its ordeal, it seemed about ready to conk out.

photo ©Dylan Edwards

The wildlife service said that as long as the fledgling wasn't injured (which it didn't appear to be) the best thing to do was to put it back near where I'd found it so the parents could look after it. The woman I spoke to suggested that this was the grackle's first flight and that it had just had the bad luck to make its first landing in the creek. Since I found it next to a busy pool and playground I didn't want to let it go where it might get harassed by curious children, so I chose instead to release it in a nearby but secluded area where I knew there were grackles nesting. I fed the little bird since they need to eat about once an hour and it was clearly extremely hungry (I soaked some small pieces of bread in water, and though I don't think this is nutritious enough for a regluar diet, it was certainly better than nothing). I can't say what became of my ward, but it was definitely an interesting learning experience.