A HEARTWARMING STORY FOR TODAY:
Have you heard the one about the three fishing buddies, two baby robins and the canoe? The birds don't walk into a bar, but this tale, if it weren't true, would be almost as difficult to believe.
On Friday, May 25, Roly Saul and Ian Stimson drove to Mr. Stimson's brother's house in Carlsbad Springs to borrow a canoe for a three-day camping trip. They grabbed the canoe, which was upside down on a rack, and tied it to the top of Mr. Stimson's truck.
They ran some errands, met up with Chris Dowdell, who was joining them on the trip, and sped 120 kilometres along Highway 7 to the Madawaska Highlands. After a short drive down a bumpy dirt road, they reached the Madawaska river. They took the canoe off the truck and flipped it over.
View Larger ImageThey discovered a nest containing two baby robins in their canoe just waiting to be fed. The friends cared for the birds during the two-day trip, feeding them raw steak and covering them with paper towels at night to keep them warm. Mr. Stimson figured the chicks' mother had built a nest on the underside of a seat in the canoe as it hung in his brother's yard. Mr. Saul couldn't believe the nest hadn't been bumped out during the drive down the dirt road."We were bouncing and jouncing all over the place," he said. "We had to get out and reposition the canoe a number of times."When the men found the birds, they weren't sure what to do. They couldn't just leave the chicks on the riverbank."We felt they would be doomed without their mother," said Mr. Dowdell. So they decided they would, collectively, become the birds' mother -- at least for the weekend.They placed the nest in the canoe and paddled to their campsite. There, they feed the birds strips of raw steak. Though beef is a poor substitute for a nice, fat worm, the chicks gobbled it up. That night, they put the nest in a tree. "We weren't sure what was lurking in the bush," said Mr. Saul. It was a chilly evening, so the friends covered the nest with a paper towel, weighed down with a twig to stop it from blowing away. Early the next morning, Mr. Dowdell checked on the robins to make sure they had made it through the night. For the rest of the weekend, the birds dined on striploin, relaxed in the sun during the day, and slept high on a branch at night. The men were careful not to touch the birds too much, fearing their mother, should the chicks see her again, would reject them. On Sunday, the men packed up and headed back to Ottawa, robins in tow. Mr. Stimson returned the chicks to his brother's yard, where a worried mother awaited them."There was a robin sitting on the clothesline with a worm in its mouth," said Mr. Dowdell. "The reunion was complete."Two weeks later, the robins, healthy after returning to an all-worm diet, left the nest for good. Right on schedule.
AWSOME GUYS - THERE IS HOPE FOR US ALL YET!!!!!!Sunday, July 01, 2007