Death of a Feathered Friend...

Now I took no pleasure in taking this picture but I had to. I have never been this close to an American Goldfinch! Of course this is no way I want to see one of the many backyard birds that I love so dearly... to be dead in my hands. It was just so weird how it happened and it makes me think about our own existence here on Earth. One minute you are here and in a flash you are gone.

I went out back around 8pm Friday night to put a bit of Safflower in the feeders for the Cardinals. They normally are the last birds here in the evening, just before dusk.

There were Goldfinches on the nyjer feeder, a couple on the fence, and everything was fine. I did my thing, head back to the house and I notice a male Goldfinch in the garden, bright as the sun, dead in the soil. He wasn't there minutes earlier... because there is no way I could miss him. He was in the vegetable garden, where it's all clean (no plants yet), lots of rich dark soil and manure. I thought I saw something fall in the garden when I was at the back and now I am thinking it was him.

I guess it was his time to go? The other birds payed no attention to what had just happened, they continued to eat and do their thing. Death is a natural occurrence and I guess since it wasn't something as tragic as murder by a cat or other predator... they accepted it. It was so fast too! I've come across sick and injured birds in my days and most take some time to pass on if that is their fate.

I picked him up, he was so warm and soft but lifeless. His eyes were closed. I admired the beauty of him and his plumage and took notice to no signs of injury on him or ill appearance. I then placed him in soil again, got a shovel, dug a deep hole, said a silent prayer and buried him in the ground.

I felt a moment of sadness but accepted what had happened and was happy to be there and give him a burial, sending him back to the Earth, where we all eventually go...