the Boy Scouts and the baby bird

Tonight, I set out to capture an incoming storm. I intended to head out to the open countryside, but the storm was moving faster than me, so I decided to head down to Riverside Park instead. A few people were still fishing, so I headed out onto the north end of the boardwalk.

As the rain rolled in and I started walking to the car, I noticed a baby bird flailing around on the boardwalk. At first, I thought it was a little one who couldn’t fly and was trying to get away from me. Then, I saw the string wrapped around one of its feet. The string was just long enough to let the bird dangle upside down over the edge of the boardwalk. I reached down and grabbed the bird and called out to a nearby family for help cutting the string. Lucky for the bird, I had called out to the right people – a father and son, both named Zenon and both well-prepared Boy Scouts. Zenon Jr. came right over and cut the string and we took the bird to his dad.

The three of us retreated to a nearby picnic shelter as the storm raged around us. We were able to get a closer look at the situation so that Mr. Zenon could get the right tools to help free the baby bird’s foot from the cotton string that ensnared it.

Zenon Jr. was such a great helper, running back and forth in the rain to the car to get whatever his dad needed and holding the flashlight while his dad carefully cut the tightly wound string.

It wasn’t long before Mr. Zenon was removing the last bit of string from the baby bird’s foot and we set the bird free.

Thank you again for your help, Mr. Zenon and Zenon Jr. [aka “The Zenons” 🙂 ]!
It’s people like you who help to restore my faith in my fellow human beings.