icarus

Note: With permission, this post is largely copied from the blog of my Twitter pal @AimeesBlog. It tells the story of a mysterious bird found in our goat pasture … and as she says, I guess he flew a little too close to the sun. (Also think it provides some insight into my goofy times spent twittering. If you haven’t yet, try it. Good times.) Thanks, Aimee!

To preface the Twitter conversation below, please meet Icarus. I spotted him while I was out in the field with the goats – running but not flying. He’s a Sora and he has a sore wing. I’d never seen a bird in this area that looked quite like him, so I took these pictures.

My pal, @AimeesBlog (Aimee E.) and I had a little Twitter conversation about Icarus & it went like this (my tweets are in green & Aimee’s are in block quote):

Need BIRD xpert; found this while doing goat chores, never seen one before. Injured wing? Can u identify? http://twitpic.com/4s3i0

@morebikes http://twitpic.com/4s3i0 – Wow. He’s got a pretty beak. What is he?

@morebikes oh, I feel bad. Trying to identify now…

Other view. Stabs my heart to find injured wildlife <-{ Anybody identify what bird this is? http://twitpic.com/4s3oo

@AimeesBlog You tell me what he is … I’ve never seen one. Kills me that he’s hurt. Now pouring rain, thunderstorms, hail. <-0

@morebikes http://www.americanbirdguid… (I’m looking here)

@AimeesBlog Well lookee there, down at bottom (Rails, Bitterns – first yellow beak thing I saw). Think it’s a Sora (Porzana Carolina)?

Yep – this is him. Thanks @Aimeesblog — you get ornithological gold star today!!! YAY! http://bit.ly/JVm5X

@AimeesBlog Now just please tell me you have a wildlife rescue/rehabilitation clinic; I’ll send him to you.

@morebikes What happened, does he have a broken wing? (I’m making a horrible face right now, this sucks)

@AimeesBlog I can’t tell for sure … he can walk/run, but wasn’t flying. Suspect yes, it is wing. It was SO hard to leave him out there.

Need to just let Mother Nature take over, and put my anthopomorphic tendencies aside… (anguish)

@morebikes What do you do? If he’s way hurt, I dunno. These are the hardest things for me. yep you’re right.

@morebikes We should call him Icarus.

@AimeesBlog Perfect.

To Icarus! http://twitpic.com/4s3oo (wiki) http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…

And that’s the story of Icarus.

P.S. Aimee read that Icarus’ species of bird is not endangered; as a matter of fact, they are listed as: Least Concern (IUCN 3.1).

P.P.S. Earlier this evening, we needed to do some mowing in parts of the field where Icarus had been spotted. He was not to be found anywhere in the area. Hoping for small miracles – I like to think that he managed to move on, safely.