Fiona's Peewees Help a Turtle

Fiona loves Peewees and has a favourite Peewee family living in her yard (see slideshow below).  Also called mudlarks, the birds are friendly and get along well with her gorgeous hens (Lucy and Gertrude –Columbian Wyandottes, and Edna - silver-laced Wyandotte), but Fiona was yet to discover how amazing these birds can be.

Out on a walk one morning, Fiona and Rick saw a Peewee nest atop the horizontal beam of a traffic light reaching out over the street.  While musing about the safety of the location, they noticed the bird was making a small racket and flying toward the nearby creek, apparently trying to draw their attention.  Imagine their surprise when following the bird's calls, they found a turtle stuck on its back near the creek!  Rick ‘up-righted’ the very relieved turtle and put it next to the water, where it wasted no time swimming away to safety.

Having watched that Peewee couple fledge their youngster in a stiff breeze high above the traffic, it was great to witness them go on to raise a second batch of eggs later in the season. They probably found the abundance of insects attracted by the traffic light was an excellent grocery store for the family.

This incident makes one wonder how often we may have lost the opportunity to rescue a helpless creature by dismissing a bird's calls as meaningless commotion.  I know I will be paying even more attention from now on.

You can see some of Fiona's lovely birds in the slideshow below:   

(click on the 'next' button to forward through the slides).
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Thanks Fiona for sharing your experience, we are definitely wiser for it.  Gitie

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