Preparing Brinks for the Big World....

We need to release Brinks back to the wilds of nature. I know that. I'm trying to prepare him for it. And I'm trying to prepare myself. Now that it's getting nicer outside we've been putting her in the dog cage and putting her out on the patio so she can get use to the outside again and get back her instincts. She hates being in that dog cage and after about 15 minutes she starts going nutso in it, flapping her wings and trying to get out. I saw a much larger cage at this garage sale for only 10 bucks so I bought it. It's twice the size of her other one. She still doesn't like it. She's okay at first...then she starts going balistic trying to get out. She is not a cage-bird. She is not a canary or a parakeet. That's why we have let her fly free upstairs.

We need to get up to Caseville as soon as tax season ends so we can work on getting our well up and running again. I thought maybe I would take Brinks up there one more time so we can get things done and then release her when we get back. But there is no way she will stay in that cage for the 3 hour drive up there now. I'm afraid she will break a wing when she starts flapping them furiously in that cage. So we are now thinking that maybe we need to release her first...before we leave.

The problem is that we need to do a "soft release". The websites say that when we release a bird we need to be there for them for the first couple weeks or so....providing them food and water, etc until they can fend on their own. So we need to do this soon....like this weekend if the weather stays good.

First, I took her nest and eggs away the other day. She was looking for them at first and sitting on the shelf like a lost little mama. She's acting like her old self now. So I'm hoping she has forgotten about them. My computer room faces the backyard and there is a big window, so I'm putting her food by the window now to get her use to eating in here instead of the other room. My plan is to simply open the window and let her fly out on her own, and leave the window open so she can fly back in if she wants. I will leave food and water near the window for her. Hopefully, she will adjust to her new surroundings again. And I'm hoping and praying that there are no hawks!!!!

Damn....I love that stupid little bird, but she needs to fly free again and be a bird. She can't come sit with me on the bed at night and watch TV with me. She can't sit with teddy bears all day. She can't play on the computer anymore. She needs to do bird things.

I'm so scared for her. I'm afraid something will happen to her. Her safe world will be gone and she will have to live in the big scary one. She's been living in the human world for over 6 months now. Can she live in the bird world again? I hope so.....