Tweety, God’s Special Bird

     Mom, mom!”  I heard my daughter Paula shout one spring day.  She came into the house holding a very tiny baby bird.  The bird was mostly pink stomach and mouth and not much else.  Not even a feather!  The two of us went outside to search for a nest from which the baby could have fallen, but it was to no avail.  Paula found the baby bird on the wooden walkway between the house and a storage building.  The ground was bare except for some pine needles.  There was absolutely no place from which the baby bird could have come!

     I knew that for the baby, whom we had now named Tweety, to live, he had to have small grit to digest his food.  We quickly found some old parakeet grit and put a few pieces of dry dog food to soak in hot water.  We were thrilled when Tweety seemed to thrive on his diet of dog food—soaked and sprinkled with grit—pieces of greens, and insects, which Paula hunted for him.

     Feeding a baby bird is no small task, as they awake every dawn, screaming for something to eat.  Paula was very dedicated and stayed with her task of being Tweety’s caregiver.  Tweety soon began growing feathers.  When all of his feathers came in, he no longer needed a cover at night.  As soon as he could see, Paula became “mom” to him.  He loved her.  He knew her voice instantly, and would call out to her when he heard her.

     Tweety became quite a fun part of our family.  He loved attention, especially to have his head scratched by anyone’s finger.  He would fly to us, land on our shoulders, and hop down our arms to one of our fingers where he would ruffle up his feathers and bend his head down, begging to have his head scratched. 

     When he was full-grown, Paula began taking him outside to fly.  He loved to be out in the wilderness on top of the mountain where we lived.  Paula could leave Tweety outside all day, then go out in the evening, hold out her hand, and call him.  He would fly to her and land on her hand, ready to go to his cage inside the house.

     When we went to camp meetings, Tweety loved to ride on Paula’s shoulder, while she rode her bike throughout the camping area.  When we went to workers’ meetings at the church camp, there was Tweety, in all his glory, entertaining everyone.  He loved to go to the outdoor children’s meetings with Paula and would hop all about, visiting all the young people.  We were concerned that he would get hurt by landing on someone’s head or shoulder who did not know him, and they would hit him, but I guess the word got around about “that bird Tweety.”  Everyone loved Tweety.

     Interestingly, no one could ever tell us what kind of bird he was.  We pulled out our bird books, but poor Tweety never matched up with any of the birds in it.  Tweety gave our family, especially Paula, a lot of joy.

     “And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. . . .  Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.”  Matthew 10:29, 31.  If God cared so much for Tweety that He brought him to our family to save his life, surely He will take care of you.

Judy Baugher