As I was coming home from today’s walk, I saw a baby woodpecker on the sidewalk. When it saw Allie and me, it got scared. I have read that mother birds often push their babies out of the nest to teach them to fly — and never to pick the birds up or take them home. The baby was looking at me so intently. I just wanted it off the sidewalk. So I tried to urge it onto the grass. But it wouldn’t go. Then Allie lunged toward it, and it moved. So I let Allie — on a very short leash — do it again. And it moved again. It was hard for it to get on the grass, but then it did. And then it began moving across the grass and next to a tree. When I saw it begin to climb the tree, I knew it would be okay. I went over to snap its photo and it looked at me again. Since I was wearing a shirt with black-and-white stripes and my morning hair was sticking up all over the place, I like to think that it thought I was a very huge woodpecker coming to help. That’s my woodpecker #mothersday story from this morning’s walk. #natureclub

Posted by Toria at 2021-05-09 19:56:33 UTC