Two in the Hand

             Ferry Point Park has moved its way high on my destination list of places to ride my bike to. As Spring sneaked its way through the endless wall of Winter we had up in the Northeast, the park has been the beneficiary of a wide range of different types of birds I don't recall seeing in these parts. There's common and semi-common Spring attractions such as robins and cardinals, but I've been seeing finches, orioles, and other birds I have no idea what category they fall under. I'm not sure if its a migration issue, a climate issue (as Spring rapidly turned into Summer), or the fact the birds found a new place to hang out. Either way, I like biking there before or after any heavy crowds might be around because that's when all these wonderous birds are on full display.

             One afternoon after returning from work, I felt a need to get on my bike and head over to my little "bird sanctuary" before the sun was about to set. There weren't many people around except a few kids playing with a remote-control truck. I made a full circle around the bike path of the park and was on my way back home when this blue jay darted out in front of me. It was flying at a very low altitude, barely a foot off the ground, which gave me the impression that something was off. The bird was flying ahead of me and I chased to see if there was anything wrong with it. The blue jay veered off the bike path and landed in a patch of high grass, now I knew something was wrong. A normal bird in that condition would've just flown up to a tree or high in the sky to escape, instead this one just stayed on the ground as I approached on foot. I was able to pick it up with relative ease, the blue jay didn't put up much of a struggle. It wasn't a baby anymore, but I could tell it wasn't large enough to be a full adult. Looking at its tail, I noticed part of it was ripped off, so either the blue jay injured itself or was attached by a larger bird or other animal. The busted tail was probably the main reason it couldn't fly correctly and I knew if I just left it there, very likely a cat or some other animal would kill it. I've captured several types of sick or injured birds over the years; starlings, pigeons, sparrows, but I never caught a blue jay and I always wished I had. Though I was initially concerned over its safety, I was equally excited over the fact I finally had a blue jay after wanting one for so many years.

             I began riding my bike; controlling the handle bars with one hand and cupping the blue jay in the other. The first few blocks the blue jay didn't put up a struggle, but then after the initial shock of a human hand faded away, the bird started to squirm. The odds I was going to be able to ride all the way home without losing the grip on the bird were increasingly shrinking. I needed to find a solution and fast. About a minute away there was a Home Depot store, but that would involve physically taking my bike and blue jay inside the giant outlet which security may not appreciate, so that idea flew away. Then I saw my answer laying on the curb. As I passed a UPS location, I saw that a number of used boxes had been discarded in their front garbage. I quickly grabbed a box that didn't look too filthy and placed the blue jay carefully inside. Now holding the box at my side, I was able to peddle without worry of losing the bird. The darkness must have made it panic because it kept jumping up and headbutting the top of the box. I also heard some flapping going on inside the box, so it was certainly fighting to get out of there. Without the ability to fly correctly, it would've been as good as dead if I changed my mind and released it back into the wild. With the energy it was displaying inside the box, I was thinking of naming it Fiesty. We were back in my apartment fifteen minute later and I had to lock Leo in another room so he wouldn't try to attack it.

            Once I opened the box, Fiesty hopped around on the floor and even flew around into the kitchen. I tried to give him some crumbled crackers, but he wasn't interested. Then I placed his beak under the running water from the facet to see if he'll take a drink. He took a little, but the rest of the time he kept his mouth sealed shut. After a few minutes Fiesty calmed down and even sat perched upon my finger like a domesticated bird. The only problem is it struggled to stand up straight, it kept leaning backwards and forwards as if it had no balance. This wasn't a good sign, clearly, but again, it was better off than being left outside as easy prey for a cat or falcon/hawk. There's no birds allowed in my building, plus Leo is around, so I decided to take the blue jay over to my parents where there's a cage of starlings it could live in. I brought the blue jay over and tossed it in the cage. The starlings fluttered around inside the cage at the sight of the intruder, while Fiesty remained on the floor. It took a good half-hour for all the birds to calm down, and when they did, the blue jay jumped up to the top perch inside the cage and it was looking as if it was making itself at home. So then all signs turned to positive that it was going to survive. The trick with "wild birds" is getting them young, because they easier adapt to the domesticated lifestyle. Older birds simply shut down internally and die within a few hours or a day. Fiesty wasn't exactly a spring chicken, but it wasn't a full-blown adult, so I gave it a 50/50 chance of surviving.

             The next day the initial reports from my parents was that the blue jay was getting along fine, under the circumstances. They didn't see it eating or drinking, but it was still up on the perch and even pecking away at some of the bird toys hanging inside of the cage. A few hours later when I visited, it was a totally different scenario. I found Fiesty at the bottom of the cage with its head hunched over - it had that death look. I held him and tried to get him to drink or accept some food, but it would do neither. It seemed like it was struggling to breath and with each passing minute it got weaker and weaker. Finally, its body gave one last big twitch and it was gone. I literally felt it die. It could've been from an injury suffered the day before when I found it with a busted tail, or perhaps like the bird that was out in the wild too long, it wasn't going to accept a domesticated life like his starling roommates did. We weren't exactly sure what to do with the remains. If was it was buried in the backyard there could always be the chance the dog digs it up, and simply tossing it in the garbage isn't a great send-off, plus it might be in there a few days until the next garbage pick-up; attracting stray cats and raccoons in search of a meal. I said I'd take the bird with me and figure something out. It was placed in a small brown paper bag and I walked home while thinking of a good place to dispose the body. At a street corner in front a Chinese food take-out place was a public trash can, likely to be picked up by sanitation, sooner rather than later. I placed the brown bag special in the trash can and kept on my merry way.

             The very next morning I returned to Ferry Point Park and did my usual circling around the bike path while gazing at all the birds flying around, as well as the geese and ducks in the water. I was pretty bummed out about losing Fiesty and wondered what the odds would be of finding another blue jay. This time it was a Saturday, with alot of sun, and people were filling up the park. I had a Yankee game at 1pm and was on my way back home to get ready for it, but as I tried to exit the park I noticed these two aquatic birds were scurrying around the grass as if they were searching for something. There is water not too far away, but it didn't make sense that these birds were so close to the parking lot and away from the shoreline. Then in a small patch of burnt grass I saw what the birds were looking for, a baby hatchling. I was confronted with the same options I had only forty-eight hours earlier; do I leave the bird or take it? It didn't seem injured like the blue jay was, and its parents were only a few yards away, but I had to consider two facts. First, the park was getting filled up with families and kids, and there were plenty of children riding their scooters and bikes in close proximity. There was a very good chance the baby bird was going to be run over at some point. Second, the parents and baby bird were so far away from the water I strongly doubt they would've been able to steer it back to the shoreline, where likely the nest was located. I needed to spring into action and fast before the baby turned into scooter roadkill. I scooped up the bird with one hand and controlled the handle bars with the other and headed for home.

            As a baby the bird didn't struggle in my hand as much as Fiesty was while I rode the bike, but I still worried about accidentally losing my grip on it. Luckily on the side of a bike path I saw an empty Dunkin Donuts box, used to carry a case of six, and placed the little birdy inside. Whereas people must have thought I was riding with a case of donuts, I was instead riding with a tiny baby bird. It was about the same routine when I got back to the apartment; I locked Leo inside and tried to give it some water, which it accepted. It was making an urgent peeping noise, likely signaling for the mother, which I felt bad about, but at this young stage of its life usually the bird would be willing to accept a human as the mother figure. I was quite perplexed at what type of bird this was. I figured it was one of those birds you see at the beach with the very long legs and body-size of a dove. The feathers on its body hadn't fully grown in yet and its hair was a little fuzzy, so I wanted to name it Puffin. The Yankee game was rapidly approaching and I couldn't leave the bird in the apartment in case it kept chirping and someone informed the landlord, so I made another trip back to my parents with a tiny package. Puffin was certainly too small to go inside the cage with the starlings, plus it wasn't a "tree branch" type of bird, so we set it up in a tank with flat grounding. I couldn't stay long because I needed to get back to the apartment to change for the game. One of the cats was more than willing to keep an eye on the bird until I got back.

             The Yankees won that afternoon and I raced back to my parents to see how everything was getting along with the baby bird. While I was at the game they called a bird expert and this specialist seemed to know everything about this bird without even seeing it. He confirmed it was an aquatic bird and mentioned it is common for them to run away from the nest areas along the shoreline and end up on baseball fields and so forth. He also recommended we take the bird back to the likely nest area as soon as possible in hopes the parents would accept it back. In the meantime he said he could give it crickets to eat and there were some already in the tank when I got back. The time was late afternoon, and with people and kids still likely jammed in the park, the idea of taking the bird back and leaving it on the sand with everyone around was a certain death sentence. Also, the odds the parent birds were going to hear its cries, find it, and take it back into the nest had to be very minimal. The only chance of that occurring was if we brought it there very early in the morning when nobody but nature was awake. As I held the bird in my hand while the cats watched on, I noticed the bird was trying to crawl up my sleeve, as if trying to get into a nest. I was trying to hand-feed it some crickets, but like the blue jay, it wasn't displaying an appetite. Then I got to thinking that maybe if I create a nest inside the tank, it will feel at home, and hence eat the crickets that come inside. The bird expert said that these types of birds feast on small bugs that crawl on the sand.

              Using a hand towel, I created a small cave-live structure and placed the tiny bird inside. My hypothesis was a great one because within a minute the bird devoured any cricket that foolishly made its way into the towel-nest. Then Puffin became aggressive and left the nest in search of more crickets to consume. It even ate a dead cricket that had drown and was floating in the water dish. When all was said and done it must have polished off about fifteen crickets in the matter of three minutes. This was certainly a great sign that the bird was going to survive! We still weren't sure yet where or how we would be able to release it back into the wild, but for the time being it was good news that the bird was eating on its own. The next day passes and the bird looked the same as the day before, but this time it wasn't eating anymore. It was spending most of its time asleep in the towel-nest. That night, for whatever reason, it went to sleep one final time and never woke up again. It was quite baffling since it was devouring crickets like they were going out of style only forty-eight hours before. As a baby, it didn't know the wild life long enough to shut down internally after being taken inside a house. It was very baffling for it to have died that way, the blue jay I could understand, but not with a baby bird who ate and showed strong indications of surviving. Both bird cases, I still think they were the right choices of taking them versus leaving with the variables surrounding them at the time, but you can always make the right choice and it still doesn't work out right - that's nature.

             I wasn't left in charge of the body disposal the second time around.......

The Animal Marathon

            Once I got myself settled into Dallas I was glad to discover there were two animal-related attractions nearby I would be able to visit. I'm always a big fan of zoos and aquariums, or just even a regular pet shop, but my focus while in town was going to the Dallas World Aquarium and the Dallas Zoo. The first stop on my two-day animal tour was going to be the Dallas World Aquarium.

            When I see the word aquarium I'm usually under the impression that the place would be geared towards water-related creatures such as sharks, fishes, penguins, etc. As I approached this aquarium and noticed a large glass building, I figured this was going to be the case. The entrance fee was twenty-one dollars, which I felt was somewhat step than normal zoo prices, but I marched on. Once getting inside I saw a display for a couple of birds and a tree-kangaroo, who was a little camera shy place his hands over his head. Then I thought to myself, maybe this isn't just for animals that live underwater. As I reached inside the main area I was surprised to see a giant indoor rain forest with four floors, and a basement, of attractions. The way the aquarium is designed is visitors enter and start at the top, then as they make their rounds to see all the animals it leads them towards the ground level, to the basement, and finally out the exit. The inside is also a botantical garden with trees, plants, flowers, and a giant man-made waterfall right in the middle. One of the more bizarre animals I encountered was the anteater. It paced in circles and made continous efforts to unearth any ants, that thing must only sleep and look for ants with its life. I never actually saw one up close like that, so it was certainly a great early surprise.

           The top floor mainly featured a variety of birds and monkeys, plus a sloth, that was sleeping in a tree naturally. There was one special bird exhibit in which a worker would hand you a berry and you could stick your hand in the cage to feed it. This floor also featured a small concession stand that served snacks as well as beer. It was one of those moments where I knew I was not in New York anymore. Although its a family-orientated place, it is possible to get drunk and walk around with the animals, which could lead to very interesting occurances. Perhaps in Texas people have a little more self-control. There's probably good reasons why there's beer at this aquarium and not beer served at zoos in New York. As I pushed onward there was a great river-otter display in which you can see otters both above water and when they swim underwater. Towards the middle section there were more assortments of birds, plus reptiles such as snakes, turtles, and lizards. One creepy display was a darkened room that had vampire bats. Some where hanging upside down in the man-made cave structure, while others fluttered around. When I reached the ground level it brought me to the bottom of the waterfall where I noticed a swan trying to guide her little youngings through the splashing water.

            The was a staircase leading downward, but at first I wasn't sure if that was for employees only or if there were more displays in the basement. Once I saw a couple of other visitors go down there, I went down to follow them and was greeted with a massive underwater tank that featured water turtles, gigantic fish, and a sea lion swimming around. Another great attraction downstairs were these giant wall displays of underwater sea life from different parts of the world, such as Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Indonesia, etc. The displays had colorful coral reef rock structures with amazing looking plant life growing off them. There's one area in which you step outside momentarily to see the penguins, but its just them out there, then you have to go back inside to see the remaining exhibits. One neat feature they built down there was an underground glass tunnel that has sharks swimming above you and on both sides. Unlike the typical view of a shark from the side or from above, this 3D view brings a new way of seeing sharks without having to be in the water with them to see them. In keeping in shark tradition, I made sure to give one my middle-finger when i had the opportunity. What makes this aquarium unique is that it doesn't limit sections to one type of creature only. You'll find a bird right next to a turtle, and next to that would be a rodent, and then next to that would be lizard (probably wishing it could find a way in the rodent's tank).

            They certainly save the best for last that this aquarium. When I figured I seen just about everything there is to see, I turn my head and noticed a leopard sitting in a giant glass display with a crowd of onlookers. Walking closer towards it, I was able to take notice of its shiny fur coat as it groomed itself with it's tongue. I couldn't recall if I ever saw a leopard in person before, this and the anteater were certainly first-timers. Just before the exit door there some nice colorful flamingos, so they're not as nearly as impressive after seeing the leopard up close and personal. With the Dallas World Aquarium now seemingly a bargain at twenty-one dollars, the first phase of the animal marathon was complete, and the following day's mission was the Dallas Zoo. It was located further outside the downtown Dallas area than the aquarium was, so I needed to take a DART train ride that lasted about four or five stops. The weather was overcast when I left the hotel, and by the time I reached the zoo it had started raining lightly. Since I wouldn't be able to put it off for some other time, I had to march forward. The entrance fee was only fifteen dollars, which is quite reasonable compared to other zoo prices these days.

            The fact the weather was bad and that it was in the middle of the week, the place was a virtual ghost town. I did notice a few mothers with their kids as well as a couple of class trips roaming around, but really the zoo was empty and I would have all the animals to myself. I always find it annoying when I have to look over people to see something, or can watch something at my own pace cause there's people coming up behind me. Having a large zoo with nobody else around is almost a once in a lifetime opportunity and I couldn't wait to get started. After some initial lemars and flamingos, the first main attraction are the penguins. Alot of these were fresh in my head from seeing them at the aquarium the day before, but I didn't mind those replays. Next was the African sufari area with the king of the jungle, the lion, or should I saw lions, on display. The two of them were play fighting with eachother, but as the rainfall grew harder, they ran for cover under a canopy the zoo built for them. As I was giving the lions my undivided attention, in the corner of my eye I saw something watching me. I turned my head right and there was a cheetah just looking at me viewing the lions. For a moment I couldn't tell if it was curious at what I doing, or if it was jealous that it wasn't getting any attention. I motioned to go towards it and it took off running somewhere. The rain at this point was starting to come down rather hard.

             There was something about the cheetah that was very intruiging, so I walked in the rain and made my way over to the other end of its display to see it also covering itself from the rain. Luckily for me, it's cover area was next to a window I was able to sit down next to. At first it growled at me, but after a few moments it didn't care anymore that I was in it's presence. I was nose-to-nose with this predatory cat as the both of us were huddled up and seeking cover from the rain. Being next to the giant cat had a very calming effect and I stayed there for nearly fifteen minutes while I drank my lemonade and shielded myself from the rain. Then a terrible thing happened, one of the class trip groups came by and saw the cheetah up close to the window. I stood up and walked aside because I knew what was coming next, they all ran up to it which made the cheetah draw its fangs. The both of us were very unhappy at the kids for ruining the whole thing. The cheetah took off for a while and the kids eventually got bored and left. I hung around for a few minutes because I knew the cheetah would be back for its cover spot, and it did return. By this time the cheetah was sleepy, so as it started to nod off I decided it was time to move on unfortunately.

           It was around lunch time and I needed an good excuse to get out of the rain, so I went into the African safari cafe. Since I was in Texas, I figured why not have some bbq. I went with the beef brisket sandwich which was slices of beef smothered in sweet bbq sauce on toasted white bread. Although it was only a sandwich, it by far the best-tasting food I had while staying in Dallas. I ate the sandwich slowly so I could stretch as much joy out of it as possible. The rain wasn't going away and I couldn't stay in the cafe forever, so I ran quickly over to the elephant area. Never before have I been this close to elephants than how it was structured at the Dallas Zoo. There was one point where some elephants were bathing themselves that I felt I could've reached out and touched one. The rest of the zoo had the same feeling, they put you right up front and close with the animals. Certainly another moment when I realized I wasn't in New York. At times, I felt I could've just put a penguin in a backpack and walked out. Only one time did I see a Dallas PD officer walking around, who looked like he was days from retirement, plus a couple of zoo employees, but it was as dead empty as a zoo could get.

           One animal that wouldn't fit into a backpack was the gorilla, who wasn't too thrilled seeing me in his area. It pounded its chest like King Kong once it saw me and took off for another area. I had to jog over to the entire other side to see where it was hiding, and I found it leaning against the glass while snacking on some plants. It really wasn't fit for company as it punched the window near me and took off again. This gorilla had a poor attitude and was in no way as inviting as the cheetah. Even though a Texas winter isn't like the northeast, since it still was winter some of the animals weren't out due to the season. I reached the meerkat section and saw there were none of them around. Were the meerkats also not on display due to the season? Moments later a saw a head pop out of the log, there was my answer. Two of them kept popping out of a log, then running back to get in on the other side, to just repeat the process over and over again. I would've like to have taken the monorail ride, but due to the rain that one was definately shut down for the day. My clothes were getting wet and my body started to shiver, of course I picked this day to go out without a jacket.

            I had seen the lions, the cheetah, and the day before a leopard, what was missing was a tiger. I passed by a crane, a vulture, a few different types of monkeys, in route to see the tiger. Perhaps they don't keep it out in the winter or maybe it was sleeping under a rock, but it was nowhere to be found. There was a cougar elsewhere, but the tiger would've been the real cherry on top. I needed to get indoors to try off and was delighted to see the reptile house not far ahead. Once I got inside I let the warm air dry my chilly bones. Although it was a reptile house featuring turtles, lizards, frogs, and alligators, at the Dallas Zoo the reptile focus is snakes. There had just about every snake imaginable on display. For the king cobra, they created a mock India-style home and had the cobra slithering on the floor. My biggest thrill was having a chance to see the black mamba, which is about the most lethal poisonous snake on the planet. The color of it is a light brown, but the reason its called a black mamba is because when it opens it's mouth, the inside it all black. At that point if you're seeing the black of that snake's mouth, there's a good chance you'll be dead a short while later. I went to take a picture of it as it faced me directly and either the flash upset it or something, because when I looked back at the picture it had opened it's mouth for me to display the blackness inside it's mouth. Perhaps the zoo trained it to strike a pose when people start snapping pictures.

           When I left the reptile house I noticed the rain had stopped thankfully and it was getting quite near closing time, so my next stop was going to be the bird section. The offical bird of the United States, the bald eagle, managed to go to the bathroom as soon as it saw me. There were other eagles, vultures, and even a bluejay, which is common in the northeastern part of the county, but I guess in Texas its a zoo attraction. My last stop before leaving the zoo was the children's zoo area. In this part there's pony rides, goats to feed, but the best is the walk-in bird hut. As soon as I got in, a bird flew onto my shoulder and went onto my finger. A minute later a nice lady who works with the birds came out to give me the grand tour. She informed me that the bird who flew on me is named Christine, plus she gave me background information about the rest of the birds that were inside. Another couple of workers came out to feed the birds since it was almost closing time, and they let me join in. They gave me meal worms to put in the palm of my hands, and within seconds birds were flying all on my arms and hands to get at them. With the bird feeding and the cheetah it turned out to be a great zoo experience!!

             The only bad part was I wasn't able to walk out with a penguin...