On my way to work yesterday I got to the top of the stairs from the el blue line.  As I was walking down the street I saw this little bitty bird hopping along.  I don’t usually stop for birds, but I rarely see infant birds on the street downtown.  This one, while not actually cute, looked so out of place and scared.  I watched it as many people passed us by.  Each time he tried to hop into the street, I would shoo him back.  I had a dilema, I couldn’t leave the bird to hop into rush hour traffic, but this looked like a rare bird.  Like maybe a falcon baby.  There are falcon nests in that area of the loop.  Peplexed I was thrilled when a young woman stopped and remarked on my rare baby bird find.  “Wow, you don’t see that every day” she said.  “I know, I know, but I don’t know what to do!”  I expained that there are many people at my work who would know exactly what to do with a baby falcon like this.  If she would wait on the sidewalk and make sure the baby didn’t go into the road, I would run to work, get a box and figure out what to do.  She agreed, halfheartedly and asked me to hurry.  So this big breasted baby bird saver environmental freak ran at top speed to work.  I took the elevator to the 16th floor and frantically began the search for a fellow bird saver.  I found a box and found a guy who knew the phone number of a bird rescue place.  I asked him to call it while I returned to the scene.  I rushed through the lobby, out the doors and around the corner only to find a new man, a hippy dude dressed a bit like Steve Erwin used to dress.  He is talking on the cell phone as I proudly display my cardboard box for the falcon baby.  After a few minutes on the phone, he gets off and with a tiny smirk says, “the baby pigeon thanks you.”

The pigeon population of America increases again…thanks to me.

For those of you curious, a baby pigeon looks nothing like a grown pigeon, though I am told nothing like a baby hawk either.  Here is a photo of a baby pigeon.