The other morning I saw two great blue herons flying together, as I drove to work.
This morning, I saw the neighbor’s rooster, his hen that hasn’t been around in a week or so, and the reason why she’d been away – a flock of maybe 20 chicks!
Tonight I decided to take the “back way” home, coming in over the dirt road you often see in photos here. I didn’t get very far when I had to pull over and leap out of my car!
I confess I didn’t take photos right away. I got out of my car when I saw this odd-looking thing near the heifer and sure enough – a brand new calf. Barely taking breaths. While I held mine a bit, mom got to work, licking and nudging and licking some more. She removed all the sac and the waxy coating and started in cleaning the naval area. She nudged and nudged and licked and pretty soon that little black head started bobbing around. Phew.
Mom walked around and around the little one continuing to clean him up and 15 minutes later he had wobbled to all four feet. She wasn’t quite done with him though and she gently nudged him back down. He seemed to have his mind set on something to eat though.
I didn’t stay for that event, but I did have a nice chat with the farmer who raises these. This was the second calf born in two days. The first one, the mother wasn’t much interested in the calf, so the farmer was pleased at how attentive this first time mom was.
So that was my incredible event on the way home from work today. That calf had just about hit the ground when I was going by and so a new life starts.
