The Scratchin Post:

In the mornings I like to sit on my large balcony and enjoy a quiet breakfast. I was doing just that a couple days ago when I noticed a man walk into the lot across the street and start poking at something with his foot.
After a couple nudges, he crept a little closer and waved his hand over the object. I still couldn’t see what it was. About that time a woman appeared and I heard him say “it’s not moving at all.” He shrugged his shoulders as he and the woman walked back to their truck.
I wanted to know what it was before I just walked over there (I already knew I was going) so I hollered at the couple and asked what he had found.
He said it was a bird.
Good enough for me. I immediately snatched up my cell phone and called Scarlet Colley, local dolphin and wildlife expert. She picked up on the first ring and I told her I had a hurt bird near my yard. She asked me what it looked like.
I was so anxious to get help I forgot to go look at the bird. After a brief search for my flip flops I made my way across the street.  There it was, huddled with its eyes closed, but standing. I made some noise and got no reaction. It didn’t even open its eyes.
As far as birds go, it wasn’t large and wasn’t small, a little bigger than the size of my hand, and swaying on long, yellow legs. Its beak wasn’t short, but wasn’t long either, and it was a nondescript brownish-gray color. I told all this to Scarlet then snapped a pic of the little thing and sent it to her.
Well Scarlet was out enjoying a morning on the water and couldn’t really tell what it was, but I told her I had a cat carrier to put the bird in and would meet her at the Sea Life Center in Port Isabel in an hour.
I was really worried about leaving the little thing out there in the wide open when it obviously was sick and couldn’t fly away. We have a healthy feral cat population on the Island, not to mention all the hawks and other birds of prey. But when I returned with the cat carrier, it was still there.
I placed the carrier in front of the little bird and started to scoop it up gently. Its eyes flew open, but it didn’t try to flee. Instead it walked right into the carrier of its own accord. Definitely sick. I took her right across the bridge to the Sea Life Center where one of Scarlet’s fabulous employees gently transferred the bird to another carrier in a quiet, cool room.
I left a $20 donation – the Sea Life Center is a nonprofit educational organization – and made my way home with a now empty cat carrier. My heart was heavy. I was hoping the little thing would make it.
I called Scarlet later that evening and with baited breath asked her about the little bird. First, she told me it was a Sora, a migratory bird that probably arrived recently and would stay and winter with us before heading north again in the spring.
She also said our little girl was doing great and would be released the next day when Scarlet went to Barbara Kennett’s memorial service. For those of you that don’t know, Barbara was known as the Bird Lady and was somewhat of a celebrity on the Island.
She created the most amazing bird habitat on her property and birders and photographers from near and far would pack her place and enjoy her warm, easy hospitality.
And so it was that on a bittersweet day, just before the Island said goodbye to a truly special lady, Scarlet released our little Sora into the bird habitat at the Convention Center. She said our little girl immediately began to feed.
Scarlet thinks the bird probably hit a window near my house and was stunned when I found her. She just needed a safe, comfortable place to recover.
I thought the release of that sweet Sora just a little while before Barbara’s memorial was a very fitting tribute indeed. Thank you Scarlet, and thank you Barbara for all you brought to us.