Joba
New member
Last night a water valve broke under our front patio causing water to run constantly into our yard and forcing me to turn off our water until I can get an expensive "technician" to come fix it. So, needless to say, I woke up this morning in not the best of moods, expecting a crappy day. As I was standing in our kitchen this morning, I see ripples in in our pool like something is moving around. I go out there and find a tiny dove struggling against the side of the pool. I scooped him out with my hand, and the poor little guy just sat there soaking wet and shivering. I could see that he was fully feathered, but he was so tiny and being soaking wet made him look really pathetic.
Quickly, we put together a little box with some rabbit bedding, put him in, and left it in the warm sun while I went online to try to find out how to possibly keep him alive. I'm thinking syringes and liquid bird food; well he wasn't having any of that. After about a half hour in the sun, he must have dried off enough. My wife says, "hey, he's climbing out of the box!" Sure enough, he was perched on the edge of the box. Next thing I knew, he took off. For a second I swore he was going straight back into the pool, but he cleared it and made it into a small tree just beyond. I was so happy; I thought for sure he was doomed when I picked him out of the pool.
Here's a very poor picture that my daughter took with her phone while he was still drying out. It's hard to see, but his wings are at the top and bottom of the picture, all stringy and wet, and his beak is to the left:
Anyway, this turned out to be a nice, happy start to what I thought would be a crappy day. Thought I'd share.
Quickly, we put together a little box with some rabbit bedding, put him in, and left it in the warm sun while I went online to try to find out how to possibly keep him alive. I'm thinking syringes and liquid bird food; well he wasn't having any of that. After about a half hour in the sun, he must have dried off enough. My wife says, "hey, he's climbing out of the box!" Sure enough, he was perched on the edge of the box. Next thing I knew, he took off. For a second I swore he was going straight back into the pool, but he cleared it and made it into a small tree just beyond. I was so happy; I thought for sure he was doomed when I picked him out of the pool.
Here's a very poor picture that my daughter took with her phone while he was still drying out. It's hard to see, but his wings are at the top and bottom of the picture, all stringy and wet, and his beak is to the left:
Anyway, this turned out to be a nice, happy start to what I thought would be a crappy day. Thought I'd share.
