I didn't tell anyone... but I brought home a young budgie (9 or 10 weeks old) on the 18th of this month. After giving him a day to sort of get used to his new home, I began trying to hand tame him and begin bonding.

Things really started looking good. I figured out why he wasn't interested in millet (a seed grain that many budgies love and are trained with), and I moved it to one of his preferred perches. In four hours he nearly destroyed the millet spray I'd left for him.

On Thursday night, I came home after work and we watched Valkyrie. 20 minutes before it ended, I hear this terrible squawking noise. The noise is too loud for it to have come from my room, so I fear someone (possibly mom or dad) has let him out of his cage. I bolt up the stairs and against the dark I see a black figure. Indy. I finally stop Indy and I'm scared that he's got my little bird pinned under him. I lift him and thankfully there is no bird. I pass the cat over to one of my brothers. To my left, a very frightened budgie sits, breathing hard. I eventually called for a towel and cover the bird and safely put him back in his cage. I cover the cage to help calm him down. I cannot look for injuries because it would be too stressful and I haven't worked with him very long.

Friday morning Tau looks... not himself. He holds his right foot above the perch and his right wing seems to bother him a lot. We start looking for vet hospitals who have avian specialists on hand. The only openings any vet has are on Tuesday. We fear then that we cannot wait that long.

I tell my mother that birds, especially small ones, can die of stress. We talk in the garage more and come to the conclusion that even if we could take him to the vet right then, could they really give him anything to ease the stress or fix what's wrong with him?

I cried. My biggest fear was coming home from work and finding that my baby is dead.

My worst fear came to me right after I returned. I step in the door and my dad tells me that "He didn't make it."

It doesn't matter that I've had him such a short time. I grew very fond and protective of this little bird almost immediately. And now I'm bloody crying like an idiot and I'm feeling horrible because it could have been prevented! I accidentally left the door to the cage open.

Part of me still doesn't want to believe he's gone.



Fly high, Tau. I loved you every minute I had you.