Rocky

Earlier in the week I saw a wounded blackbird in the back garden. He had clearly been attacked by something, and had a hurt wing and a featherless wounded patch on his head. He wouldn't let me go near him for several days, and I took to leaving seeds and bits of bread in the bushes, hoping he would eat them before the squirrels did.

After 4 days I named him Rocky because he was clearly a fighter. Even though I kept leaving him food by the bushes where he tried to hide, I could tell by his crowing that he was getting weaker. Yesterday my friend David and his dad John were over working on the shed and David was able to catch him so we could put him in a towel-lined basket to rest. He was really weak and couldn't hop any more, so I spoon-fed him water and bread bits and left him to rest. An hour or so later he had hopped out of the basket, left a big poo on the patio and was back to the bushes. He was clearly in pain when we had him in the basket, and I wanted him to either go quickly or be 100% okay.

This morning I looked out the bathroom window over the back garden and saw more black feathers. I figured he must've been attacked again, and shortly thereafter I saw a rather large cat emerge from the bushes. I'd seen enough and I had closure. Poor Rocky went quickly and his life gave life to others, blah, blah blah…

But actually, this afternoon I was in the house and I suddenly heard “click, click, click” sounds in the bonus room. The slider is open because John is back in the garden working on the shed today, so I got up to check out the noise only to find Rocky hopping around! My silly little crow is still alive! He hopped off to the bushes again, but this time he let me get next to him with some almond slivers and a little tub of water and he didn’t even try to peck me when I poured a bit of water over and into his beak. I don’t know how long he’ll manage to keep alive, but for now it looks like I have a pet crow named Rocky who’s quite the little fighter. As my friend Pete would say, Eye of the Tiger, baby. Eye of the Tiger.