Double rescue
By ElicBxn
@ElicBxn (63840)
United States
April 5, 2025 8:49am CST
Yesterday (4-4-2025) I was visiting my best friend in Kerrville Texas. I have for several years come from Austin where I live and take her out for her birthday. This year she was having cataract surgery on both eyes right before and after her birthday so we decided to postpone it. It’s a least a 2 hour drive and I have done it in a day but a good visit is at least overnight. Even better is 2 nights.
I got to her place about 3 in the afternoon. We were visiting at the kitchen table. Where I was I sitting I could see out the door and onto the screened porch. There was a hummingbird on the porch. The bird could not figure out where the open door it had come in was at.
At 8 my friend wanted to go watch a show and she left me with her newest story. When I finished it I got up and discovered a tiny turtle, or maybe a tortoise, on floor. I looked around for something to pick it up on and decided on a styrofoam plate. Just as I was turning around to get the turtle my friend came out, worried about the bird. I picked up the turtle and said we now had to get this out too.
She put the turtle out in some tall grass. Now we started to try and find a way to get the bird off the porch. Not only was it now dark, but a cold front was coming in. It is Texas out there, but going from the 80s into the low 50s is a shock for small animals like the bird and the baby turtle.
The bird was, because of the night, trying to find a place to rest. I had read on the internet, that if you turned off all the lights except one by the door they could find the way out. The problem with that is all her lights were on one switch. She got a hot pad to unscrew the lights when she heard the bird’s hum stop followed by a soft thump. She got her flashlight and asked me to hold it while she tried to catch it with a towel. Naturally the bird did not want any thing to do with it. However, the towel had chased the bird right up to me. I gently closed my hand around the bird. I could feel the poor thing just trembling in my hand. I went to the door and turned it loose. Then I closed the screen door behind me to keep it from coming back in. Last seen resting on the screen, but now on the outside instead of the inside.
I hope both animals were safe when the violent rain storm hit last night. There were 3 waves of rain. I was asleep by 11 and it woke me up but I was still too tired to look at my phone. I was awaken again by heavier rain and did check the time- it was about 12:30. Then the sky opened up and the rain came down in buckets and the lightning and thunder was coming really close together. I checked the time again and it was about 2:30. It kept me awake for a while and I put a “sleepy story” on. I barely heard any of it. I woke up hot around 5 and pushed the covers off. But I had so much trouble finding my morning medicine it woke me up. I tried the story again and actually heard it.
So, anything exciting in your life these days? Any critters that you have had to rescue?
3 people like this
3 responses
@DaddyEvil (145929)
• United States
5 Apr
Nice job helping them back out where they belong.
Nothing like that happening here. We're just getting all the rain across the middle of the US right now. The lower areas are having trouble with flooding. Thankfully, our house isn't in a flood-prone area.

1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63840)
• United States
6 Apr
By the time we caught the bird it was dark and getting cold. Even when the turtle was found and put out it was getting cold. I told my friend to put it in an area with tall grass it could get down in. It was after that we finally got the bird where it was able to get caught. It rained the first time about 11:30 so I hope it was safe.
1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63840)
• United States
6 Apr
@DaddyEvil we were worried about the bird because it had been flying around since at least 3 and the only thing it might have been able to eat were a few tiny bugs. I know that hummingbirds do eat bugs but it had spent so much energy trying to get out is why we were worried.
1 person likes this
@DaddyEvil (145929)
• United States
6 Apr
@ElicBxn I'm sure, once you got them outside, they knew what to do to keep themselves safe from the cold. 

1 person likes this

@BarBaraPrz (49343)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
5 Apr
I hope the birdie found a better place to spend the night than the screen.
I haven't saved any critters lately but I did squish a few 'red bugs' (boxelder bugs).
@BarBaraPrz (49343)
• St. Catharines, Ontario
6 Apr
@ElicBxn These supposedly let off a stink when 'stressed' aka squished, but I've (thankfully) never had that displeasure. 

1 person likes this
@ElicBxn (63840)
• United States
6 Apr
@BarBaraPrz way back in the mid 2010s a stink bug got in my bedroom. I thought it didn’t smell bad but the cats did. On the other hand, my nose is a bit broken - as in I don’t have the best sense of smell.
1 person likes this

