
Let’s just call that one above, Andy. Andy Dufresne. As you can see from the previous posts, we’ve become quite the Finchers as of late. Raised two sets of birds this season without a hitch…almost.
Al went out to water the potted plant that our latest Finch family had taken residence in. Apparently she bumped the pot the wrong way and Andy decided it was time for his escape. He hops out and quickly realizes the ground is about 6 feet lower than he thought and starts to panic. He made a few futile attempts at flying, but it was pretty obvious that was still a foreign concept. He did make it to the ground safely, I’ll give him that much.
Al starts screaming and runs inside. She’s telling me about the great escape and the girls are now officially horrified. We all run outside and Andy is hopping around the yard.
CB informs me, “Daddy, you’ve got to do something.”
“What? Teach him to fly?”
I checked the nest and the other three were still nestled in. As I walked closer to Andy he starts hopping like mad and inching closer to our back fence. Not a problem, I think. I can corner him and somehow convince him to get back in the nest. Great plan except for that tiny little hole in the fence that I’d never even noticed before. Again, not a problem. That hole is so small that there’s no way anything can get through…And there he goes.
The girls are now officially in Daddy Disaster Mode.
“DADDY!!!” You’ve got to something or he’s going to die!!!!” There’s a huge ditch behind our house and a stand of trees where apparently the Finches are watching this whole thing. I jumped up on top of the fence and could see Andy hopping unsuccessfully down one side of the ditch. The daddy finch is frantically dive bombing Andy, but doesn’t seem to be accomplishing much more than I am at this point.
I was trying to tell the girls that the Daddy finch was there and that everything would be ok. No one’s buying it.
MK is warning me about snakes and hawks and raccoons and everything else that could happen to Andy, and…I bought it.
I jumped the fence and started wandering down the ditch. I’m watching the Finches in the trees above and they are not too sure about what I’m doing. At this point, Andy had fallen down in the tall weeds and I couldn’t see him. However, I knew I was getting close when the Daddy nearly took half of my ear off. He’s getting serious.
I looked down and say Andy buried half way down in the weeds. I reached down and scooped him up..carefully and..now what.
I’ve got Andy safely cupped in my hands, but now I’m defenseless and the Daddy is stepping his game up. I run back to the fence and the Dad is dive bombing me the entire way. It didn’t take long to realize that I’m not scaling the fence with Andy along for the ride, so I set off to walk around the whole neighborhood to get back to my front door.
As I’m walking through the streets of my neighborhood, of course everyone is outside. I’m wandering the streets like an idiot, nodding hello with my hands stuck out in front of me and Andy, just along for the ride. I made it back to the house and the girls are ecstatic.
I got Andy safely back in the nest, and he stayed put, this time for another couple of weeks. I’d like to think that he’ll go on to great things. I guess we’ll see.
I swear, the stuff he pulled… Sometimes it makes me sad, though, Andy being gone. I have to remind myself that some birds aren’t meant to be caged. Their feathers are just too bright and when they fly away, the part of you that knows it was a sin to lock them up does rejoice, but still, the place you live in is that much more drab and empty that they’re gone. I guess I just miss my friend.









































