mourning dove

Thursday night we were bringing the dogs back from a run at the lake when I saw a rustle of feathers on the road...
"injured bird, we gotta go back"
My husband says, "you know what you should do..."
I'm thinking...what?
"run it over"
Kind of a surprise coming from my husband who is as much a critter lover as me. When his gerbil, Rocky was on his way out, his parents took him to the vet. The vet prescribed some "medicine" (asprin) and Scott was told later in life by his parents, "the Vet pulled us aside and said, 'look there was no way I could tell that kid the gerbil was going to die'" So a few asprin and a few days later and Rocky was peacefully buried in the back yard.

I pull in a random driveway, the neighbor's dogs come out barking me away and the neighbors are eyeing me up like a terrorist.
Oy- welcome to the country!

Anyway, it was an adolescent mourning dove with what appeared to be an injured wing, lameness in the back legs and missing tail feathers. No matter what the outcome, I couldn't bear the thought of that bird flapping around to be run over by a Chevy with Sammity Sam mudd flaps- double oy.

Meanwhile the "bird" dogs are in the car, I drive with the bird in one hand and the other on the wheel and we promptly find a box, some towels and a google search to find out what doves eat. We blend dog food and water, whole grain crackers and serve it on a plate about 1/4 the size of the box- no dice. So I move the food into an empty tin mint box (much smaller and bird friendlier) and but him/her in the barn for the night.

When I lived in Virginia, I stopped at least 4 times to help a turtle cross the road (as the pace of life isn't likely to slow down, or the BMW's to break, well, not when there are black berry messages to send). Once on 95 I saw a bird flapping against the jersey wall as hundreds of cars whizzed by, and more and more that's what life seems like- busi-ness with thing "getting in the way" or the unfortunate getting run over and left to flap.

Thursday morning I peeked in on the box and there he was, blinking and looking up at me. The woman at the Schuykill Wildlife Rehab facility said he had a 20% chance, apparently doves get dehydrated easily, go in to shock and lose feathers as a result of stress. But, better to have a second chance then to have not at all.