Dr. Dolittle

A few weeks ago, I was out with Todd helping him classify antelope, when he got a call from dispatch.

There was a bird on someone's porch and they thought it looked injured.  So, we came in so Todd could figure out what was wrong.

Turns out, the bird wasn't injured, just a little lost.  Todd brought the Western Grebe back to the truck with him so we could put it back on course...

The little bird was pretty scared, but Todd knew how to hold it so he could look it over...

Check out these webbed feet!  Western Grebes are water birds and need those toes to paddle around...

Here's Todd putting the bird back in the river...

It was interesting to watch.  At first, the bird acted like it couldn't believe we let it go and didn't serve 'em up for supper.  He just sat there paddling in place getting his bearings...

Then he happily hung around, paddling back and forth and weirdly looking back at us almost like he was saying, "Oh, thank you!  Thank you, for saving me from that porch, and not eating me, and putting me back in the water...!"

Then it took a couple dives...

Then one last big, long dive before making its way down the river...

I just love watching Todd work with animals.  He's just a natural with nature.