God knows that I’m a sucker for underdogs, so that may be why he sends all the sick, mutated, injured and freaky animals to my yard. This summer there was a squirrel with no fur on its tail hanging around my backyard. That’s an extremely unattractive look for a squirrel, I must tell you.
I also hosted a finch with one eye. While I can’t be positive that he wasn’t a victim of the finch eye disease, it looks more to me like he was probably just born with one eye.
My favorite was a squirrel with some sort of neurological problem. His movements were very jerky, and he couldn’t balance on his back legs or he’d topple over. He must’ve forgotten that a lot because he was always tipping over. One time I watched him dig up a nut in the middle of the yard. He immediately sat up his haunches to enjoy his treasure and over he went. It didn’t phase him though. He just continued to munch away while lying sideways in the grass.
This is my newest “special” visitor:
I was watching this cardinal through my camera lens when I noticed he was favoring his left leg. Birds like to tuck their feet in their bodies for warmth, so I chalked it up to the chilly fall day.
But, he returned to the feeder a few days later, and this time I watched him for a long time. It turns out he never uses his other leg.
The bird’s balance is amazing. If I hadn’t been watching him through a camera lens initially, I probably never would’ve noticed that he can do everything on one leg.
He hangs out with a flock of cardinals in our neighborhood, and he can land in the shrubs and hop up and down the branches just like all the rest of them.
This is one tough bird.
