In Memory of Nester Our Gift From God

[dancyn56]

Several Years ago around 1990, when my children were in elementary school,my daughter found some wild bird babies on the ground where they had fallen out of their nest one May day. Darcy who was about 10 at the time,brought them home and for a day tried to feed them by hand, carefully mashing up the worms and putting them into the mouths of the crying things. The more frantic the birds became, the more upset Darcy would also get. She knew they wanted their mommie but was afraid the cats would get the babies. I expressed how important it was for her to take them back where she found them only because I felt she would settle down if they were no longer in her sight. I told her the mother would carry them up to the nest herself even though I knew it was probably not true. Well, she took them back and all seemed to be forgotten after that.
The next week it was June and she had gone to the Meijer store in our neighborhood with her father to get a part for the car. At that time we were on unemployment and a very fixed income. She went into the next department, which was pets and found a cockatiel that she just had to have. My husband told her how now was an inappropriate time to get a bird of that expense since we had limited income. She really wanted this little creature and asked over and over for it to no avail and her dismay.
Later, when they came home, Darcy went to a neighbor's home to play for a bit and while she was out a bird had landed on her head! She called home from the friends house and asked if she could keep the bird, we were thinking of the experience from the week before and said no. The father of the friend then came on the line and said" this is a real bird, I think it's a cockatiel!" (the remark was funny to me since even a wild bird is a real bird) Well, we told her to wait and dad would bring it home with her in the car and we would try to find the owners. We ran an add in the local paper and looked for 30 days to see if anyone had lost a pet bird. On the 31st day, we let Darcy and her brother David name the bird, but not before since I didn't want them to be attached and then have to give it up. They decided on Nester, I wasn't too crazy about the name, but they never agreed on anything and this one time they did, so Nester it was. We told her it was her Birthday gift from God.
We had a cage that we kept her in during the night and in the day she was free in the home. We kept her on top of the entertainment center. I had some long trays from a plant table that I put on top and in this I put cobb and then the cage to one side, on the other side I had a nice piece of driftwood that we put there so she would have a fun little play area outside her house. She was a lot of company to all of us, she would fly to the dinner table and eat off of her own little china dish, she would take naps with me in the reclining chair in the afternoons. She would fly and steal nacho chips out of your hand, take them back to her cage and eat it in front of you.
One day I was holding my cat, Blue Max, and she flew to my shoulder. Max put his hand up just enough to say, I could have you if I wanted you, but I won't because of her. Another time Max was sleeping in a chair, Nester flew down to the floor, crawled up the chair front and bit Max on the nose, then she flew away. She really loved messing around with the cat, but he was a good cat and never bothered her.
When ever I ran water for the dishes, she would fly right into the sink, and there I would be, fishing the bird out of the bubbles, doing the dishes with her on my shoulder and then giving her a little shower in the sink afterwards. She was a really neat little bird and all along we always said Nester was Darcy's birthday gift from god.
Nester started laying eggs. We called a vet and he told us to keep removing the eggs and she would eventually stop laying them. Well, the eggs started getting smaller and she started shaking terribly. I then called a place that sold hand fed birds and they told me she was getting decalcified, meaning she was laying too many eggs and not getting any calcium back. I went to them, got the proper vitamins for her and she came back to health. After that, when ever she layed eggs, we left them, only she would not leave them unless we sat watch for her so she could eat and go potty. We watched her very closely at this time. Now, I still have several of her eggs that I kept. They are hand painted like little easter eggs.
When my father in law came for a visit, Little Nester stayed on his knee every day and most of the day, she liked him a lot. We have many pictures of the two of them together. We all thought it was pretty cool of the way they got along...like old buddies.
We enjoyed her so much and she truly was a part of our family and our friend. My son delivered the papers and one morning he got up early for the Sunday delivery. Nester wanted out so he took off her blanket to open her cage, she gave out a big chirp and fell off of her perch . She died right there.
That was a very traumatic day for all of us. Two days later I was talking to an elderly friend, I had mentioned the sudden death of our little bird, He asked if we had gas in the home, I said yes. He then said he thought it sounded like a gas leak in our home. I went right home and called the power company who arrived in only minutes. It turns out that the whole main gas line in our home was leaking, I don't know how we didn't blow up or die from it. Nester truly was our little "gift from God".

[dancyn56]

I wanted to say also that we had Nester for five very happy years, The day Darcy brought her home was the 6th of June and she was named on Darcy's birthday in July. I think of her often that sweet little soul, and wonder at the mysterious ways that God's hand works in this world.

[catschair]

What an amazing story & an inspiration!

[Valo's Moirana]

i'm very sorry for your loss... nester had a wonderful life in your family....