Rescue mission accomplished

 Good afternoon dear Blogger friends. Ambrose was right; I have a great story of success to share.

On Monday morning before going off to the farm office across the lawn, I walked into my bedroom. On the floor was a baby sunbird. It was cowering in between Missy and Chappie who were watching it intently from each side. 

I scooped it up and examined it closely. Although its heart was beating furiously, it seemed unharmed. I  found a small cardboard box into which I put the bird on a wad of cotton wool and took it to work with me. 

My charge safely ensconced in a box in my office

I'd identified the bird as a juvenile Amethyst Sunbird.

All morning I kept an eye on the little bird, once even dribbling a little water into its bill. These birds have the longest tongue and their young have tongues which resemble a thin, ultra thin nylon string.  Earlier this year, I rescued a juvenile sunbird and its tongue had protruded all the time; that little mite died. This bird retracted its tongue after drinking so I was hopeful it would survive.

The problem was where to release it. In the garden around my office, Jock the neighbor's Labrador, would pounce on the bird should it topple from the branch I placed it on. Back home: ditto with three cats watching as well.

As I walked home with the box in my hand, I saw Derryn, my young neighbor on my right, watering the garden. I called her from the gate to see have a looksee at my bird. She oohed and aahed and when I told her Thandi and I would be going up to my accommodation to prep for the next guests, she offered to keep the bird at home. 

When I returned that afternoon, Derryn met me at the gate again, saying the little bird was very perky. She suggested we wait until it was cooler and release it in the garden below their swimming pool. There is a nectar bird feeder at the fence and the sunbirds flit from my garden with it's plentiful Tecomaria blooms which the sunbirds love to the neighbor's garden to partake of the delicious sweet juice offered there! 

At 4.30 I went across to Derryn's home where her parents Janine and Gavin were sitting on the patio next to the pool waiting to watch our rescue mission.

I took a photo of the little bird which lay prostrate in Derryn's hand. 

The little sunbird lay quietly in Derryn's hand 

Derryn placed the little bird on a branch of a polygala shrub - quite a large tree within a few meters from the nectar feeder  

It gripped the branch strongly and  we moved back to the patio to watch if it would fly off or was it gripping the perch in terror  (we were hoping for the former)

Within seconds an Amethyst sunbird male landed on the branch above the juvenile. It opened its bill and frantically called to the adult bird. However the male flew off over the house roof in the direction of my home

Two minutes later a  female flew over the roof towards over the baby, landed on the bird feeder and took a sip of the nectar. I was photographing the young bird's reactions and missed the female's actions 

She flew back to the juvenile who spread its wings quivering and expectantly opened its bill 

And she fed it a few  drops 

By now you can imagine the jubilation and elation of the humans watching this heartwarming tableau. While we were debating whether this was the juvenile's mother who had found it after the male had alerted her, the juvenile launched itself off the branch and flew over the house towards my garden - the female sunbird in tow.  

A picture of the sunbird nectar feeder with a male Amethyst Sunbird  about to have a sip 

Bliss is the neighbor's watering hole for sunbirds! 

The moral of the story is that we managed to release the juvenile sunbird back into the wild. Times before I have rescued birds and they have died before I could release them. This mission had a real feel good ending! Thank you, Derryn for your help! 

I'm linking to Saturday Critter with Eileen here

HAPPY SUNDAY TO YOU ALL!