Lovebird Saga

Yesterday, I about had a heart attack. My lovebird, BeBe, is truly my child and I would have a hard time dealing with his loss, especially if it were my fault.

Carelessly, I was throwing some boxes outside of my door to take down to the dumpster later and the door was mostly open. BeBe took the opportunity, as he is flying now, to fly to me, landing on my back. I am supposed to be aware and attentive of his presence in regards to where he is, especially when the door is open. When he landed on my back, it freaked me out a little, so I quickly pushed the box that was in the doorway out making a loud noise as I did, which freaked him out and he took off.

This take off was not back into the apartment, rather out the door and out around our building, out of my sight. I, needless to say, freaked out! I took off down the stairs after him, not know where he had flown off to. The back of my building, where our apartment is, has a Food Lion on the other side of a mini-hill/hedge of bushes and trees. I didn't know if he flew somewhere over there or around to our parking lot.

I started calling out his name. Where was he? A neighbor in the building next to us saw me freaking out and asked what was wrong. I told him my bird had flown out the door and that I was looking for him. Like true maternal instinct, I continued to call out his name as my neighbor, Mark followed me.

Then came the sound that I was listening for. BeBe called back to me. At this point, I was still on my apartment building's side of the parking lot, but he was loud enough for me to home in on his call. It ws coming from the building across the parking lot from our building. I made my way over there, worrying that he was in the tree that was next to it. How was I going to get him out?

As I approached the tree, he kept calling to me as I called to him, and then I saw him. He was standing on the rail of the second story balcony. I kept calling him and calling him, but he would not come down to me. I couldn't reach him!

To make matters worse, an 18-wheeler hauler (the front cab of the truck) pulled up by us and it frightened BeBe. He took off again, circling out into the parking lot, but back around to the same building (thank the Lord!). This time he landed on the first floor roof apex. I still couldn't get him from there, so I kept calling out to him.

At this point, I was losing it. This was my baby, and I wanted him back. Mark asked me if I had any seed and I said I did but it was up in my apartment around the back of the building across the street. Besides, there was no way I was taking my eyes off of BeBe.

Mark walked away briefly and then BeBe took off again. Everytime he took off, I feared that was the last time I was going to see him. I didn't know where he would fly to. However, he wanted to be near me, so he circled around again and this time landed on the same roof but on the edge near the gutter. I stood there begging him to come down to me and he made the edging movements he makes when he wants to come down to me. He just didn't have the confidence to come down.

The second floor neighbor, whose balcony BeBe had originally landed on, came out onto the balcony wondering who was calling to "BeBe." That's when he saw me and I told him my lovebird was right at the edge of the roof there. He told me to calm down because BeBe is not used to seeing me upset like that, which he was absolutely right!

I edged closer and figured I might be able to reach him. But, not from the ground. I started climbing. BeBe is comfortable with me, so me approaching him did cause him to fly away; he just kept watching me, wanting to get to me. I climbed up the rail (in my skirt and dress shoes of all things) balanced myself and reached out.....

I got him! I quickly threw him into my shirt just as Mark was returning with seed and a fish net. I was praising God at this point. My nice neighbor up on the second floor watched me and told me to wait so he could help me get down, but I thanked him and just jumped down on my own.

I thanked both Mark and this other neighbor profusely for the encouragement and help. With BeBe still in my shirt (close to my heart), I walked back up to the apartment, which had the door wide open (I took off down the stairs, no regard to what I was wearing or where I was going).

I had my BeBe back. That was what mattered. Not the wood rash on my legs from climbing nor the aching feet from running in my dress shoes. I had my BeBe.

You sometimes don't realize how much you love something until you lose it, or at least in this case, almost lose it. Many lovebirds don't make it their full life span because of household accidents or from flying away. BeBe has no outdoor survival skills. He would easily be picked off by a predator.

All in all, lesson learned. We are his flock, his family, his mate, and I am just truly glad that he recognized my voice when I called out to him. He called back.

This directly parallels how the Lord is our flock, our father, our mate. He calls out to us. But we want to fly out and away, venture into the unknown dangers. We know that we want to get back to Him, but we don't know how or don't have the confidence to do so. We finally recognize His voice and call back to Him. He calls back to us. We wait for Him to rescue us and He does. He reaches out to us, puts us in His arms and holds us close to His heart. He has His child back....