Opps, I probably shouldn´t have done that Part ???

So I have no idea what number this post is in terms of all the stupid things that I have done and I have had happen to me over the past several months. But what happened last week may qualify as the best one yet.

I was working back in the isolation area where we have several types of birds. One cage contained the dove we have. It is perfectly healthy but totally dependant upon humans for food now and cannot be released. It also likes to land on your head when feeding it. Because it likes to land on your head I´m usually pretty quick with this bird. So I opened the cage, grabbed the water bowl in one hand and the food in the other and just as I turned to walk in the door the bird flies right into my face. Flustered I shake my head and find the bird now sitting on the door to the enclosure but outside the cage. Now I´m slightly panicing but I try to usher the bird back into the cage with one hand and trying to show it that I had the food in the other. No dice.

Then the really bad moment happened and the bird just took off. Freaking out and in horror, I saw the bird fly on top of its own cage, where there is a roof. Whew, it´s only a few feet away. Another volunteer near me tries to grab it but it flies away again! This time it has landed on top of other bird cages about 30 yeards away and about 25 feet up. Yet another volunteer has now gone and fetched a net and tries to sneak up on the bird from behind. You can imagine what happens. He throws the net out and just misses as the bird flies away into the forest.

I am now in an all out panic. Yes, this is a little dove that could never be released and isn´t some major bird that is normally trafficked for thousands of dollars. But still, a bird just got out on my watch. I run into the woods with a fellow volunteer and one of the men who works at ARCAS. We listen for the dove for a few minutes, and then finally spot it. I get excited, and suddenly it´s flying right at me! I throw up the net but I just barely miss it and it flies right into another tree. That´s now three times we were so close. The man who works here finds the bird and now tries to climb the tree it´s in. Slowly but surely he makes the way up the trunk about 20 feet while cooing and trying to lure the dove down. He´s inching closer to the bird and I´m about to freak out but ready to run in any direction the bird might flee. He gets to within range of grabbing the bird and goes for it. He gets it! Whew, ok, I´m safe. I look down to take a step to hand him the net and when I look up it´s flying away. It flapped it´s way out of his hands. You´ve got to be kidding me, right?

We follow the bird again for a few minutes but it is now so high in the branches there is nothing we can do. The day is over and we´re told to just wait and hope that it comes back tomorrow. I didn´t sleep well at all that night as you can imagine. I´m just praying in my head all night that it will want some food in the morning and appear suddenly. Breakfast comes, no bird. Lunch comes, no bird again. Last shift, and after five minutes the helpful volunteer goes Alexxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx!!! The bird is back!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, I have life again. The bird is in range of being captured and I see a friend walking by about 100 feet away. The bird takes off and I just know it´s going to land on her head. It does, and she freezes. I yell not to move and that we are on the way. My other friend goes over, sneaks up, and nets the bird. I make sure to give him a towel to hold the bird in his hand, and we put the dove back in its cage.

So I´m safe, we got the bird back, and I don´t have to worry about knowing that I let one of the animals go. That would have been terrible to say the least. But now whenever I have to feed this bird I make sure to have another person with me of I poke the broom through the fence to make sure it is on the other side of the cage before I go in. Crazy thing.