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AN AVIAN "ELSA" 
Early on Sunday oorning* October" 28, as'Wy husband and I were leaving our flat 
on Second Ngong Avenue to take a bike ride, we saw, two cats crouched near sooe 
bushes with something on the ground in front of them. My husband chased the 
cats away and picked up a seemingly uninjured baby bird. Not seeing a nest in 
the bushes, we took it up to our place and made a t^porary 'nest' out of a 
cardboard box. Upon returning from our bike ride, we found the bird perched 
on a tin we had leic in the box. We decided to try feeding it; but with what? 
First we tried a little bread. The bird had no qualms about taking that from 
us. But how boring a dietl So we put some peanut butter, honey and sesame 
seeds on another bit of bread. 
For the next couple of days, the bird seemed to be quite content being fed 
by Its adopted parent. (I say parent, in the singular, because my husband 
proceeded on a business trip that week and left me in charge. That doesn't 
sound so bad unless you know how scared I get if a bird even flies near me!) ■ 
Fortunately - for me - the bird could not fly, but fluttered and hopped 
around. That I cduld handle! But I wasn’t sure if I'd wake up one morning 
.to .find the bird flying around the sitting room so, to protect me, I placed 
a wire gfill on top of the box. 
Back to food. It quickly became apparent that peanut butter and honey on 
bread was not an all time favourite item. I suspected that the bird was an 
imnature Fiscal Shrike, so I proceeded to swat all the flies I could find. 
That really went, over big . . . with the bird, not the flies! But he could 
gulp down 6 flies and come back for more.. I did have other things to do 
with my time than swat flies, so I tried bits of raw bacon, cheese and event* 
ually mince. The bird helped himself to water from a shallow dish in Che 
box, but usually planted himself in Che dish while he drank. 
I tried to vary the protein intake with a little sesame seed, but the bird 
would take Che raw bacon which had the seeds on it and bash it around, trying 
to knock off the seeds before it would swallow the bacon. And when he had 
had enough to eat, he would shut his beak and turn his back on me! I got the 
message and left him alone until later. 
I was actually becoming quite fond of my little charge and was gaining 
confidence in my ability to catch him whenever he. got out of the box, (I did 
not leave Che lid on all the time.) However, there were a few times when he 
would hop away from me before I could catch him, so I had to do a 'hat trick'. 
Taking an old straw hat, I quietly approached the bird and dropped the hat 
over him, scooped him and the hat up and put him back in the box. 
On Wednesday evening around 6 p.m., the bird was in his box out on the 
balcony of our flat - with the wire screen covering the box. Suddenly a 
fiscal flew CO the balcony and perched on the railings. It- was the first time 
I bM ever seen a fiscal on anything other than the trees and bushes in'the 
garden or on the telephone wires. I figured some sort of communication was 
taking place. Going out on to the balcony, I uncovered the box and waited 
iMide the room to see what would happen . . . Nothing happened. The adult 
fiscal had moved off to a nearby tree when I came out onto the balcony, but 
did not return to the railing. However, the little bird almost fell off the 
balcony as it was hopping around (we live on the first floor, not ground level) . 
As It was getting dark and I was afraid I'd lose the bird if he did fall off 
the balcony, I brought the box back in and put him to bed (i.e. covered Che 
box) for the jjight. 
Thursday morning, back out on the balcony with Che bird in its box, I noticed 
two fiscals in a nearby tree. Uncovering the box, I again waited to see if any- 
thing would happen. This time the bird, after getting out of the box, did 
tall - or possibly cook a. courageous , leap into flight - and ended up in a hedge 
on the grountUbelow. Still -watching, I noticed the-two ^dult-fiscals-coning 
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