I was on my way out of the new development where we lived and the road was blocked by a lady running in circles around her car. I got out to see if she needed help and there was this bird in the middle of the road. It was a pheasant which seemed about the size of a young tom turkey and it was flopping and flinging itself all over the highway. The young woman was absolutely hysterical because she had hit the bird with her car and it was so big and it was so hurt and she was scared of it and she couldn't bring herself to touch it and it was going to hurt itself more and what was she supposed to do. I grabbed a beach towel out of the back of my car and dropped it over the bird and it started to calm down enough that I could pick it up and tuck it into the back of the VW hatchback. I told her I would take it to the vet and once she was able to stop shaking we went on our separate ways. After I ran a short errand I stopped at the local vet's office which was on the back porch of his pretty white frame house. When the cold weather arrived he would move back into his clean and modern clinic rooms but until then he was taking advantage of the porch swing. He gave the dazed and struggling bird a good checkup and announced it was healthy and uninjured except for a concussion. With a grin, he offered to take it off my hands since there was a space in his freezer that was just the right size. I smiled back and turned down his generous offer and asked for the bill. He said since I was going to play nursemaid, the exam was free. The bird was wrapped and loaded back into the car and we were off to the gas station.
You could tell this was a really small town because there was still someone to pump gas for you. While waiting for the the tank to fill I began to feel like someone was watching me. I turned around expecting to see a friend and instead found 5 men staring in the back window at my bird which had worked it's way out of the blanket. After explaining how I got the bird, I thanked them for their offers to take it off of my hands and started home. We were almost there when I spotted the contractor who built our house and stopped to ask when he would be stopping to take care of some minor problems. The bird stuck its head up and the builder, of course, offered to take the bird off my hands.
Once we were home there was the problem of where to house the bird. This was a big bird and we had a German short hair pointer/beagle mix dog. The rear porch was out because the local critters would make short work of the screens. They had managed to get through those twice before I learned not to leave the BBQ grill out there and to store the bird seed in the basement. I finally decided on the furnace room since the door could be closed. For the next three weeks that door would be the only place you would find the dog. We were greeted morning, noon and all night long with the sobbing howl of a hunting dog denied it's prey. When Linus was crying the bird joined in with a screech that put chalk boards and fingernails to shame.
I had to make an extra trip to the grocery, 10 miles away to stock up on birdseed and grit for the bird and extra treats and a toy for the dog.
Once Birdy calmed down a bit and his feathers laid back he was only the sixe of a large hen rather than the tom turkey size he appeared before. He was still a big bird though. We found out that the state had been releasing young birds in an attempt to reestablish the population for hunters. We might be forced to release Birdy at some point but we were not going to let him be a sitting duck.
A bird with a concussion is not a happy sight. When you come into the room, the poor bird is laying on it's side. It's feet may be moving at a fast trot but they aren't going anywhere. If you pick it up and set it up properly it will sit there briefly but soon it will begin to list to one side. It is a slow list but eventually it meets the point of tip over and the poor thing is on it's side again and is obviously confused by the spinning ceiling and walls. Food and water are not enjoyed when you have to catch it as it flies by. I finally rigged up a little cradle to prop the bird upright so it could at least try to eat. The problem was that if it tried to peck at a seed, it hit the pan two inches to the left. I finally got a low sided roasting pan and covered the entire bottom of it with seed and grit. Birdy might aim at one and miss but a new one would be in the way. It was the only way the poor bird could catch the flying seeds.
We had been caretakers for only a few days when I got the first call from the DNR. They wouldn't say who turned me in. They were not happy with me and demanded that I release the bird immediately. It didn't seem to matter that the bird couldn't cover a foot without falling on it's side or that there were way too many hawks for him to survive more than a few minutes in the open. Finally we arrived at the understanding that no more than two days after Birdy could stand up straight we would release him. While it was still mid summer we didn't want to mess with his internal clock any more than the accident had already. While he was healing we drove around the area searching for a good spot to release him. Finally we found an uncut field with enough scrub to hide from the hawks and three weeks later we drove to the spot and set the now alert bird next to the tall grassy meadow. He didn't seem to get the idea for a while that he was supposed to be free so my sons took a new box of bird seed and grit and laid a path of it into the grass. Birdy finally followed the pathway and we watched him disappear.
Did I mention Birdy had the most gorgeous irridesent green tail feathers? They must have been more than two feet long. The rest of his feathers were such a marvelous gold and tan. I wished I could have kept one. Linus took a while to forgive me for keeping him away from Birdy. He checked the door to the furnace room many times after that but he didn't sob any more.

left a lot of people hungry there, didn't you, sandy? it seems you would have attracted less feline attention with an open vat of sardines.

that is the advantage that concussioned (?) squirrels have over birds: with 4 legs they have a 50% greater chance of staying upright. still, hilarious to watch over recovery when they can finally hop 2-3 times before falling over. thta listing to one side reminds me so much of charlie chaplin going around corners!

it is a wonder everyone wasn't on xanax after all that ruckus and unfulfilled dreams (linus). but birdie had a wonderfully nice place to recoop (spelling intended). halfway through i started wondering about those tailfeathers. can't help myself...

i had the whole picture show in my head. thanks, sandy!

Hmmmm. No comment about the DNR or who ever called them.

I love a great rescue. BTW... It would not have been an "intrusion" on my Cardinal thread, but I think your story does deserve special recognition, rather than get buried in another thread!

WoooHoooo Birdy! :-)
WoooHoooo Sandy! :-)

C3D

On a disgusting note, DH, the self-proclaimed great hunter, keeps trying to get me to eat pheasant whenever he's able to get any (few and very far between, thank you very much), but that's just nasty. Now, if he brought home Cornish game hens....:D

Brenda

I'm not so sure you can't keep a pheasant anyway - you can buy their eggs and chicks on line and raise them yourself. They are not protected as far as I know - how could they be when they are an introduced game species one can buy on-line. It is not like you were 'hunting' out of season. I'd really like to know if they are on a Federal Protection list - like heron for instance. I'm going to check.

FTM - the vet seemed cool until the 'freezer' remark. Geez - all the people wanted to do was eat the poor thing while it's down. Pheasant are choice game birds, but still... the person that turned you in was PO'd because they didn't get to put it in THEIR freezer. Sour grapes.

Thanks for sticking to your guns and helping a bird in need! CT

Still - whatever the law - good for you being a defender of wildlife. I got some flak one time for telling about picking up a heron that was stuck in fishing line and I transported to a re-habber. I've since learned it died anyway, but all some folks could say was 'that's illegal'. Well - when it comes to aiding an injured animal that's too bad - I actually picked up the heron and drove to a ranger station and they gave me the rehabbers name and number - instead of a bunch of crap. Hooray for them, but there were some GWebbers that were oh so quick to point out I was breaking the LAW. Like you - I'll take my chances with that - if they want to arrest me than do it I say. Just post an editorial on it and watch the public come to your rescue. Think about it - you wanted to save the bird, some sour grape do-gooder drops a dime on you because they can't eat it - and then YOU get called to have to engage in some ridiculous conversation where they 'bargain' 3 days you can keep it. What's up with that?

i think with the pheasants: anything regulated by a hunting season is off limits, well you know what i mean, even introduced species. now, golden pheas. have no season iknow of. i did think that you had to be licensed to purchase and raise ring necks for release. i have been known to be wrong quite often.

I did try to get some wild turkeys out of the road one morning. My husband called me on his way to work to tell me that the turkeys were in my neighbors field. I took my camera but by the time I got there they were in the road. I got out and tried to herd them back into the field but they would have none of that! This was their response ....

Sandy, you are a wonderful storyteller!

From Indiana's State Wildlife Policy -

"Except as otherwise provided, it is unlawful to take, possess, transport, export, process, ship, sell (or for any common carrier to ship) any species or subspecies of wildlife appearing on the list of state indigenous wildlife determined to be endangered, the US list of endangered wildlife, or the state list of endangered species developed under 14-2-8.5-8."

Pheasants (ok, ring-necked) are not indigenous or endangered, so *BEEP* 'em! :D

Brenda

off to do a search.