Yesterday a friend and fellow photographer and I were out scouting some areas for family sessions and it was getting late. She was running low on gas and we were headed through a beautiful area in north Mesa, La Sendas when we saw a flash in front of the headlights. A bird had swooped square in front of the car's path. We didn't hear anything but I felt compelled to stop and make sure that we didn't have a squashed bird pressed against the front bumper. My dear friend opted to wait in the car while I carried out this task.
As I got out of the car I prepared myself for a grim flattened bird. Breathing deeply and wiping sweat from my brow I crouched down to have a look. The sun was now behind the mountains and almost all light was dimmed. I went to take a closer look at the radiator grill area and found the wing. It was pinned flat against the radiator. I grabbed a stick to try and knock out the birdie body and it began flapping frantically around. I was beginning to feel like John Lithgow from 'Harry and The Hendersons' with an animal I thought was dead then come to find it is very much not.
This poor bird was stuck in her car. It was trapped between the radiator and the bumper front fender plastic stuff. I jumped back and squealed that ' It's NOT DEAD!!!' The bird was in fact very much alive and not happy at it's current location. We couldn't stop laughing as this poor bird would not come close to one of the holes that would be it's escape back to freedom. Then the worst happened. A truck began to slow down, make a turn and pull in behind us. Not that we weren't grateful that some one had stopped but with these circumstances we were embarrassed for anyone to stop to 'help'. The gentleman clearly thought that we were crazy but proceeded to try and help us to the best of his ability. After something about not wanting to get aviary bird flu or something to that affect he suggested to leave it in there and just drive home if it was still there then it would come out when it was ready. We had about 10-15 miles to drive and really didn't want it in there any longer than it had to be. We thanked him and decided to get in and slowly drive to get gas.
At the gas station we tried again with objects to get the still very alive bird out of the grill. Having more light we quickly grabbed our camera phones to text pics to our hubbies.
With one touch the bird quickly jumped onto the bumper area and sat there heaving. The poor thing wasn't flying 35 miles an hour on its own it was being pushed. I couldn't control this bird and then it made it's mind to finally get out... almost. It heaved sitting there long enough for me to grab my camera and take these pictures.
After about as long as it takes to pump 16 gallons of gas I was ready for air conditioning and the bird to be free. I took a paper towel and tapped the back feathers and off it flew to a tree. The bird was safe... as safe as a bird in the wild can be. Or at least it wasn't in the car any longer. We had gas in the car again so the air conditioning was now on at full blast. Thank goodness for air conditioning.
These photos however were taken before the incident. This is a Cactus Wren. She was so pretty sitting there protecting her nest. I still can't believe that she was literally standing on that jumping cactus. No post production enhancements to color were made. Just sharpening and contrast bump for web. Gotta love AZ sunsets.
