Saving a Cardinal

The girls and I were inside the house on Monday afternoon, when we heard a bird hit the window.  I looked out to see her fall to the ground, but then quickly fly off.  We thought she was okay, but no sooner had she flown up, then she came right back down again and landed in the yard (in front of our three dogs, no less). The girls and I quickly went outside to see a female cardinal who was very stunned and unable to stand up without falling over.  The first one to reach out for her was Julia.  She held her for a little while, and then Johanna asked to have a turn.  Johanna also asked me to put our dogs in the kennel so they wouldn't get to her.  Johanna also remembered we had a bird's nest (the kids had found it last year) in our garage, and she ran to grab it for her.  She sat her down inside the nest in a grouping of purple phlox.  We left Julia to watch over her while Johanna went looking for some sunflower seeds, and I went in to get my camera.  When we got back to the bird she was in a different spot with the nest lying on top of her.  We soon found out that Julia had touched her, and she made a little hop to get away.  By this time she was looking more alert.  When I tried to pick her up to put her back in the nest, she was more resistant and hopped away again.  We watched her for a moment, encouraged that she was feeling better, and then a few seconds later she flew off into a tree.  Yay!  The girls were sad to see her fly off, but happy that she was okay.  I thanked the girls for taking such good care of her and for saving her life.

 (That's her in the tree in the middle of the photo.)