We've been taking care of Brian's and Jasmine's* dog (Trixie) while they are busy inviting Atticus (their brand new baby boy) into the world. Congratulations to both of them. This morning, Trixie would not stop barking. When Christine went to call her in, she wouldn't come, so I went out to retrieve her. Turns out, she was barking at a Blue Jay that was lying on the grass. It looked a bit scruffy, so I assumed that it was dead. Trixie, was running circles around it and barking nonstop.

Upon closer inspection, the bird was scruffy because it had not yet grown all of it's feathers. It must have fallen out of the nest a bit early. So, I picked it up and placed it on the honeysuckle that's growing on the back fence. It was out in the open and there were ants crawling along the top of the fence, so it wasn't a good place to leave the fledgling.

Trixie followed me back to the door and went inside, and I returned to the back yard to find another Blue Jay perched on a branch of the pecan tree. It flew to the crappy elm tree across the yard, then to the top of the fence where the fledgling was trembling below a leaf. I watched for a bit to see if I could locate the nest but, I was already late for work. So, I picked up the fledgling and placed it as high into the elm tree as I could, under the thickest canopy of leaves. I'll get Christine to check on it later today, and I'll look again this evening. Hopefully, I can locate the nest to put it back.

*Yes, that's the proper way to refer ownership to two or more individuals.