RIP, Icabod

When I went up to feed yesterday, I found dear Icabod dead at the base of his little handicap ramp, face down, wings in, like he just dropped dead. His food was gone from last night, so at least he died with a full tummy... Evening before last was the first time I didn't actually HAND the food to him, like I usually do. Now I wonder if I could have caught something if I had continued the ritual of hand feeding him Tuesday. He was never what you would call a 'friendly' bird, so I would just hand the food to him, have a little chat and then be on my way...

Rather than cutting him up to find a COD, I would rather have him mounted so he can continue to teach. He was so unusual looking...like a little space creature and so very beautiful. Taxidermy ain't cheap, but I'll scrounge the money together somehow and drive him out to Bud Jones, who does incredible work.

Icabod came to me last June, a very weird case of him having had all the primaries and most of the secondaries ripped out of his right wing. And with a force so strong, it caused tremendous soft tissue damage to the tip of his right wing... After trying to preserve as much wing as possible for all these months, Dr. Martinez finally had to amputate at the wrist. Icabod was completely healed up and had been back out in the big boy chamber for a while and was enjoying the sights and sounds of my yard...Scully trilling, Sam, Nigel and Jeffrey hooting their little heads off... The chickens walking by got his attention every time!

Thanks to Robert T. for helping me convert his chamber to make it safer and more comfortable for him. Ever since my Mina died 2 years ago, I have been obsessed with Sam and Scully's mortality...Sam turned 21 this month and Scully will be 16 in the spring, but I never gave Icabod's life with me a second thought; I assumed I'd have him for many years to come. Just goes to show you, you never know what the day will bring...



David says, "Since you've only been landlocked for 6 months, learning to fly again will be easy as pie! Come on, let's GO!"


Thank you for taking the time to read my blog....m.

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