I truly have debated whether or not to post about this because it makes me so upset, but here goes.
On Sunday April 25th, my nephew Kade found a baby humming bird. (I'm not sure why I decided we would take care of it rather than Glen and Dayna, but it just happened that way.) We have tried to take care of a couple baby birds in the past and they both died. So I figured it would be the same fate with this bird too, especially since it was so small. So, we just let the kids play with the bird and discussed with them the possibility that Lilly (affectionately named by Kaitlyn) would not make it until morning. We made Lilly a nest in a super cute Easter basket and waited. That night while talking to my brother-in-law, he reminded me that humming birds drink sugar water. So, I made some sugar water, soaked a Q-tip in it and started rubbing it on Lilly's beak. All of the sudden, her tongue starts going a hundred miles an hour, drinking it up. Sweet!! She continued to eat and get stronger over the next three days. Well, she seemed hungry all the time so we decided to give her some more meaty food. Tim cut up some worms and soaked them in sugar water. We would feed them to Lilly with tweezers. She loved them. Well, on Wednesday, we ran out of soaked worms so I went and got some more and cut them into pieces. I figured it would be Ok if I didn't soak the worm so I just fed it straight to Lilly. After she ate it, she started sounding a little funny and I immediately regretted not soaking and softening the worm first. I kept checking on her for the next couple of hours and then left to go get Kaitlyn from school. When Kaitlyn gets home, first thing she does is run to check on Lilly. She starts petting her and then says, "That's ok sweety, just keep sleeping." My heart skipped a beat. Then Kaitlyn says, "Mommy, Lilly is sleeping with her wings open." I knew what had happened at that point. I walked over to Lilly's basket and looked in to see that she had died. Choked to death by that stupid worm I had fed her! I lost it. I was so mad at myself. Kaitlyn and I cried and cried the whole day. I still regret it. So, there you have it. I'm a baby bird killer. It doesn't get any worse than that.
Lilly
Kaitlyn making a grave for Lilly
Lilly Grave - by Kaitlyn
