Sketch

I don't know if you remember Tyler's post on this little bird that he rescued. He figured out that he isn't a crow, but a Stellar's Jay. Hence, the blue feathers and mohawk.

(Tyler just squirted him with water before I took this picture so it's hard to see it, but he was smelling pretty interesting)

It got to the point that we got him a cage since he kept breaking out of his box and he wanted to eat constantly. He squawked all day long. Liv kept asking me if it was time for him to live outside yet.

These pictures were taken on Saturday (6-04) and we figured that he only needed another week with us before he was ready to be on his own. He still couldn't understand how to eat on his own, but he was very close to flying. Tyler let him roam around outside for a while, and he caught a millipede, he just couldn't figure out how to eat it.

From all the research I did, these birds are a lot like crows. They both live near people and eat their scraps, garbage, dog food, etc. In captivity they eat corn. So, we bought him some corn. He didn't seem to like it too much, or the new food we bought him. We thought he was bring picky and kept feeding him it anyways. If he was hungry enough, he would eat it right?

Well, he ate it and on Tuesday I decided he needed some fresh air (and so did our trailer). I left him in his cage so he could hear the other birds. A squirrel even tried to steal his food. I noticed that morning when I fed him he was a different color, but maybe he was just growing up. At about 2:00, I went to check on him and make sure he wasn't in the sun, and poor little Sketch didn't make it. We think he wasn't ready for the corn because he never passed it. Tyler was upset that we didn't get to really save him. It does feel like a lot of hard work flushed down the toilet.

We told live that he died. She said that Sketch went to live with Jesus in Heaven. I really thought she would cry or something. I asked her if she was upset and she said "not really." Children are so very honest aren't they?