The fledgling

This was supposed to be a long ride day as The FeMan, Dr. W. and Dr. K. were in the last few weeks of Ironman preparation.

However, it was a typical early July Northwest day, dawning with a slight drizzle and threatening to get worse.

Dr. K. called and asked for a vote to change from cycling to running; The FeMan assented to the change and the meeting time. With a little time to kill before heading out the door he wandered around the house at loose ends at one point looking out into the back yard from the back window.

Glancing down at the roof he saw the new one: a just-fledged starling. He guessed that it had just emerged from its nest under the edge of the roof and was staring about at its new and suddenly much larger new world. It stood quite still and was a little beauty.

This bird still had that slightly soft and downy look of a young bird, but it was full feathered. All its feathers were a soft gray, not yet having acquired the metallic sheen of an adult starling.

As The FeMan watched the youngster an adult bird flew into the plum tree. The FeMan just caught a snippet of view in his peripheral vision as did the fledgling.

Still thinking like a nestling it raised its head and gave several long "Chirrups" in the hopes that some food would come its way.

The FeMan studied the plum tree and sure enough there was an adult starling in the tree holding some kind of grub or worm in its beak. It flew from tree to roof, to tree, to roof.

The fledgling hopped around and fluffed its feathers.

Then just like that it turned to face down slope of the roof, gave a slight hop, and clumsily flew over to the plum tree where it landed and hung on as if for dear life.

The adult bird continued to fly back and forth appearing to entice the fledgling out of its perch with promises of a tasty snack.

This drama continued for some time and the fledgling eventually let go of its tree perch and flew away flapping its new-found wings and fluttering away. Then The FeMan was off to run and swap stories with Dr. W. and Dr. K.

Nothing like a little life drama to get the old juices going.

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