Hi everybody! Okay, weird day. First I’ll tell the normal part. Well, I worked. But enough of that. One of my co-workers and I went to a business event in Minneapolis at the end of the day. It was beautiful and a little hot downtown. It felt really good to be outside and tons of people were at outdoor cafes enjoying happy hour. I only got this one picture on the way to the venue.
After that we returned to the office to collect our stuff, and I decided to change into my walking clothes and head out to the trails while there was still some daylight.
The first scene on the way was a flock of geese in a field.
Then I got out onto the path and there were a few people here and there but the numbers were dwindling because it was the very end of the day and people were heading in before darkness fell.
As I walked along I was listening to my book on Audible when I guy jogged past me and stopped just up ahead. I realized he was talking, but there wasn’t anyone else around. Finally I understood that he was saying something about a parakeet. He pointed to the tree and I looked and sure enough, there was an adorable little blue parakeet sitting in the tree.
He stated the obvious: “They don’t live in the wild, at least here.”
That is definitely true. We have very harsh winter weather, and only domesticated parakeets live here. We agreed that it was very sad, but he must have flown out the door or window of his home, and that someone was probably missing their pet.
The man said there was nothing to be done and he continued on his run. I wasn’t so sure. I really wondered if maybe I could get the little bird to come to me. If it lived with a family, it was certainly used to people. So I made some calls to him, calling him pretty bird. He cocked his head at me and seemed interested in what I might have to say.
Then a little family came along, and I told them about the parakeet in the tree. The mother told me that they are actually easy to catch. She said I might be able to if I brought him some water because they get really thirsty. What are the chances that one of the few people who passed me by just happened to have experience catching parakeets?
So anyway, I went into my office building and found something to put water in and some crackers and went back out to see if I could lure the parakeet to me.
The location of all this was at the very far end of the big parking lot surrounding our building, beyond which is the trail. By now it was mostly dark. I put out the water and crushed up the crackers and used the same call to try to lure the bird. I didn’t see him anywhere, but the same family went by on the trail again and the lady gave me another tip to only pick the bird up from behind because otherwise it will bite. I told her I was planning to throw a shirt over it.
They left and now it was really quite dark. I waited and waited, my heart breaking for this scared little budgie. Pretty soon a small black car came driving through the parking lot. I was a little nervous because there is a high chain link fence between the parking lot and the trail. I really had nowhere to go if some creep came along. The car moved along and went up the ramp to the top level of the two-story parking garage (which is weird because there’s nothing up there and no reason to go there this time of night).
I kept calling to the bird but he never came. A few minutes later, though, the car came back down the ramp and drove through the middle of the parking lot very slowly. It was far enough away that I couldn’t see the driver in the dark, or if he was looking at me, but it was kind of eerie. I didn’t know what to do. The car stopped in the middle of the parking lot and sat there, with its lights on. I was really nervous. It was sitting between me and the building. Also my car was in the lower part of the parking structure. I thought of calling my husband.
Finally, I just got up and walked purposefully across the parking lot, well around the car so that if it was someone with anything wrong-headed in mind I could probably just start running and hopefully get to my car. But he just sat there, with his car running. At last I got back to my car and drove home! I doubt I’ll ever get that poor little parakeet, but maybe he will enjoy the food and drink.
Thanks for visiting my blog!
