Petey or a reasonable facsimile of Petey!

Back in the day..years ago when my children were young, my husband was working in the construction business. This was before his riverboat days when work was hard to come by and he was doing whatever it took to feed and clothe his family. One particular job stands out in mind not because it was spectacular work but rather another incident. He, like most construction workers, carried a metal lunch box to work with him. Some days, he would stick some neat little tokens in this lunch box to surprise the kids. One day, while working on the job, a building was being dismantled and a bird's nest was demolished. You guessed it..into the lunch box went the sole surviving baby bird. This little naked tyke made the transition to the house in fair condition but I did not hold out a lot of hope for its full survival into adulthood. I was wrong. The kids were so delighted with their new charge, that they spent hours on end hunting food for it. Several days passed and it was still alive..much to my surprise. They named the tiny thing Petey even though we were not sure if it was a girl bird or a boy bird. The name just seemed to fit. When it started feathering, I realized that it was a sparrow which helped tremendously with understanding the feeding habits. The story had a very happy ending as the bird did well and was eventually released into the wild...but not after much loving care. The tiny bird was "taught" by these three children to hunt food, stay away from the cat and to fly. Yep, you heard that right..they taught it how to live. Hmmm..or I am supposing. It was the cutest thing seeing them trying to teach it to flap its wings. I think if determination would have been the deciding factor, I would have not only had a bird flying about but also three children soaring above the house. They flapped and flapped. Petey flapped and flapped. They flapped and flapped and Petey flew. They were elated when Petey soared off and then later on when they would see the tiny bird in the yard they would squeal with delight. I could whistle and Petey would fly to me and more oft than not, land on my head. A year later, we were thrilled to see Petey or so we assumed land on our screen door. When I opened the door, the bird flew inside and went from child to child, chirping the entire time.

As I said, this was years ago. Every time I see a sparrow, I wonder if it is Petey or maybe some family member of our friend. The other day, while I was photographing the Monarch Butterflies, a small bird landed on one of the plant stakes nearby. Lowering the camera, I recognized it as a sparrow and thought of Petey. Now I realize that sparrows are not exactly the most wild birds around and they can become very used to humans but this tiny bird had no fear whatsoever. Was it Petey?? Could it be?? Surely not after all this time, but still this tiny visitor stirred memories. I hurried to fill the feeders and toss extra seeds on the ground. Within a few minutes, there were lots of Peteys. The feeders were filled with sparrows. I know that most people would rather have more "beautiful" birds in their feeders but I was thrilled. Petey happened to be a family member and it was like a reunion. Perhaps none were even related to our dear, little Petey but it was a nice thought!