Three weeks ago, I was coming home from a summer camp for the night, and as I was taking my bird's food out to change the seed, I noticed my white bird lying motionless on the bottom of the cage. I was worried. I poked it with my finger. No motion. I screamed as I realized that one of my birds had died. It was late, so there was no time to bury her, as I'd wanted to do, so instead I had to tie her up in a plastic bag and throw her body in the trash. She had always been the more territorial and feisty, as female parakeets often are, but she'd been a great pet anyway.
It was hotter in the house than usual, and I read that parakeets can't stand the heat nearly as well as they stand cold: it takes a few days for parakeet hypothermia to set in, but parakeet heatstroke can be set in fifteen minutes. It was only my female, Clair, that died. My male had always been more resilient. He was more clumsy, but he'd always get back up in a second after bumping into a wall. The next day, we bought a new parakeet and some helpful supplies.
This weekend, I was going on a walk and saw a crow sitting on the ground. It didn't even bother flying away. Neither of its wings looked broken, but it still didn't look okay. I went right home after that, and didn't call animal control because we learned from the bear day (see post "Poor Little Bear!" ) that animal control doesn't work on Saturdays, so I went back with a small cup of wild birdseed and my sister. I poured the seeds in front of the crow, then we just stayed by it for a while. The crow looked at the seeds, but it didn't try to eat them, almost as if it knew it was going to die soon. A little before we left it, it tipped over, closed its eyes, and started breathing heavily. It didn't die until I don't know how long after we left it. The next day, I saw a few flies on it. A small part of me wished they were mourning instead of feeding on the crow.
Maybe the crow had injured a wing and could not fly. Maybe it was sick. Crows may be very intelligent, but they still have no access to modern medicine and are just as susceptible to disease and death as we are.
I think I'll be looking forward to the start of school a little more.
