The early bird gets the worm .. or does it?

Tweet

I was drinking a cup of coffee early this morning and watching the wild birds searching in the grass for worms and grubs to feed their young ones with .. Suddenly a blackbird pounced and pulled out of the grass an enormous worm .. at least a foot long .. one of the hatchlings quickly scurried over to get the feast from it's mum .. Without waiting for mum to chop up the worm the baby bird snatched it from mum and started swallowing .. and swallowing .. and swallowing .. fascinated I wondered how such a small bird could cope with such a long worm .. What a racket the mother bird was making .. jumping up and down in front of the hatchling .. the baby bird appeared to be trying to wipe the worm out of it's mouth .. the mother bird kept trying to snatch it but the baby bird wasn't going to let go of it's breakfast prize ... Several minutes went by .. squawking .. frantic flapping and much jumping up and down later .. I decided the poor baby bird must be choking by now .. so I grabbed my Marigolds .. and dashed outside at a fast hobble (I'm mobility disabled!) .. The mother bird flew into the hedge and harangued me .. the baby bird stopped dead ... I crept closer .. then I was able to snatch the worm .. several inches of worm appeared back from the baby birds gullet and I threw the remains over the hedge .. eugh!! The mother bird instantly dashed over as soon as I moved away .. and made a real fuss over the baby bird .. then gave it a real scolding and a peck on the head as punishment for trying to scoff a meal bigger than it could manage ... Phew .. their goes one very lucky baby bird .. had I not been watching this morning .. I wonder what would have happened?? Have you ever 'rescued' a wild animal or bird?? What did you have to do??