I Saw the Awesomeness of God Today
JoAnn Davey

May 17, 2001

Today is my birthday…and I am awake MUCH earlier than usual…not because of my new age…but because I do NOT want to miss the alarm going off. You know how it is…you know you set the alarm…but you afraid you set it wrong…or you will sleep through it?  I have something special to do today…and it really does not have anything to do with my birthday…but it sure will make it extra special. I am going on a Quaker Rescue.

 I do not need the alarm after all. I am awake…at  @4:30 and can not go back to sleep. I prayed for the family and my friends and had a nice chat with the Lord…telling Him about all the blessings in my life…and I sure He is aware of all of them. Little did I know that today I would see the awesomeness of the Lord!

Before I went to bed last night I gave Jon-Mark the addresses of where I needed to be today so that he could make maps for me from the computer as I get LOST so quickly. The maps are all ready for me this morning. I gathered some clean sheets and am going out to get the car ready. I put down the back seats so all that I will have is one large surface. I tucked it in so nothing can get under it and then covered the 2 fronts seats with their own sheets. I went back in the house and grabbed a pile of “bird” towels and some plastic buckets of various sizes. I put then in the back end to make sure they would all fit and not roll around. I went through my checklist: keys, sunglasses, cell phone, hand cleaner, long sleeve shirt and bug spray. There have been bugs to deal with before. I even grabbed a book to read just in case I was early or there would be a long wait.

Since it is my birthday, Jon-Mark and I are going to our usual Saturday am breakfast place for a bagel and coffee. I am not going to have my usual double toasted sun dried tomato bagel with egg and cheese…too heavy for an exciting day. I am going to have a double toasted cinnamon raisin bagel with butter and jelly instead. Jon-Mark is going to have his usual jalapeno bagel with egg and veggies. We looked over the maps so I could get some sense of my day’s travels while enjoying our breakfast. We are keeping a close eye on the clock…I did NOT get up at 4:30 to be late now. We left the bagel shop @ 7:30 and I took Jon-Mark home and kissed him good-bye. For today’s adventure I am flying solo.

According to the address I was given, the first stop was not too far from home. But when I arrived…I was still solo. I called the contact number and was told I should be at a 9000 address… not 900. I told her to tell the guys at the truck I was on the way. Of course I am now in a hurry…and hit EVERY light red. And NO…not ALL the snowbirds have gone home!!! When I finally arrived I saw a man (*Harry) in the bucket truck coming down from a power pole and a man (*David) underneath him cleaning up nest remains and putting them in a HUGE thick plastic bag…. not a baby Quaker in site. My heart sank…and filled with guilt. Because I was late…all sorts of thoughts went through my head as I got out of the car. As I walked closer to the bucket truck I heard, “not an egg or a baby in this nest. Not even angry adult birds flying about.”  RELIEF!!!! “We will go on to the next nest in a few minutes.” Since, according to the maps, it was a few miles away I thought I would wait for them to pack up and I would follow them. The next thing I knew David was in the driver seat of the bucket truck and started to drive away… well I thought he was driving away…he actually drove up one power pole…that was the “next nest”.

I heard all sorts of commotion…mad parents. They circled numerous times… doing the “Quaker Review” as we call it. I felt so bad…but deep down I knew these babies would have a chance at life…and NOT be tossed to the ground…and left. I was here to keep that from happening. I went back to the car, took out 2 different size towel lined plastic buckets and took them back to truck area. While Harry was in the bucket, David and I had a chance to talk about a favorite subject- QUAKERS!!! He was really liking that the Quakers were being rescued…you could tell he was enjoying his job. Our good friend *“Doug” usually did the Quaker rescues but he was having eye surgery today. David told me lots of what “Doug” had told him about the Quakers…he seemed to really enjoy his friendship with “Doug”.  While we were talking, Harry was high up the pole carefully yet forcefully pulling down the Quaker nest. Part of it he pulled down with gloved hands, part he pulled down with a long pole. “I’ve got some big ones coming!” came loud and clear from the bucket above. Harry was taking them out of the nest one at a time with gloved hands and putting them in a slender box that fit just right in the bucket truck. When he had them all out of the nest, he lowered the bucket and handed the box to David. David walked over to me and with gloved hands took 5 of the CUTEST fat Quaker babies and carefully placed them into a plastic tub. Of course whenever you think of a baby bird…is it hungry, is it warm enough, it is frightened? Their crops were PACKED full with dark green food. The towels were warm from being in the sun and most importantly- the babies did not seem to be shaken by the ordeal. All 5 were plump green chickens with various stages of down. Sweet little faces. I touched each one and told them they would be loved…and they looked up at me as I talked to them. I realized we were the first humans to touch these babies…they did not know enough to be afraid. They huddled close together…

I looked up in time to see Harry reach in the nest and scoop something up with both hands…it looked like a strange way to catch a baby. When his hands came out of the nest, he jostled what he had into one hand and lowered the bucket to the ground. David went up the side of the truck to get what Harry had…a small grass filled nest with 2 eggs. We set it in a corner of a bucket and left if in the sun for a few. I later covered it with a towel and moved that corner out of the sun. I looked at the nest for a while…carefully looking. There on a grassy knoll were 2 eggs…the grass was fresh…not dried up and shrived…but alive with the smell of just cut grass.  Harry went back up in the bucket and brought down 4 more sweet little babies…not quite as old as the previous bunch…but sweet nonetheless. David brought them over to me and I got them all settled and was having a great time talking to them…giving a scritch here and there…and preening here and there. By this time Harry had moved to another side of the nest…but he wasn’t pulling it down…he was moving it around. Quakers build their nests with 3 chambers- the “nest” chamber, the “play room” chamber and “it’s time to leave home” chamber. As it turned out, the oldest baby was avoiding Harry’s hands by skirting through the chambers, so Harry closed off the last 2 chambers and was finally able to catch him. OH how fat he was…and almost fully green…with a need for a massive amount of preening…which of course I was more than happy to oblige. I kept hearing, “NO you can NOT bring any babies home” in the back of my head…but the voice was so familiar…. “One more egg” was the last I heard before that nest was completely on the ground and David was cleaning up the mess. The egg was noted to be considerably larger than the others when I added to the covered nest. I secured the nest and the containers of babies before we headed to the next nest. I followed driving like I was carrying the most precious cargo in the world.  Harry drove a company truck while David drove the bucket truck. He pulled in closely to the next pole, Harry and I pulled safely off the road behind him. While they were setting things up for the tear down, I took the babies and eggs out of the car and placed them in the shade of the car so I could keep an eye on them. I readied the plastic buckets to receive more babies…but I was NOT prepared for what was found in this nest. “Tiny, tiny babies. I am going to bring the nest down.” And with that he pulled hard and quickly, and I looked up to see a great portion of the nest was in his arms. David went over to the bucket as Harry lowered it down. David took from Harry what I would call the awesomeness of God. In David’s arms was a large well-contained portion of the nest chamber, the actual nest fully intact. Plum in the middle of the nest in a very round circle, were 4 tiny babies. I mean TINY. They showed no knowledge of what had just happened to them…but their parents were flying around us in a fury- loudly calling out. The babies were oblivious. Not one muscle moved…they remained in their perfect circle. You could see that their little crops were full of a dark green substance too. David carried the nest on his arms to the car where we wrapped it in its own sheet- to keep them warm as well as to keep the nest together.  After checking the other eggs and the babies, I went back to the car and looked at the nest. This nest also had a ring of FRESH grass surrounding the babies. I looked again at the crops of the babies…I never touched the babies…just looked. They were secure in their little ring…and I was NOT about to change that. The Lord created the WHOLE world in SIX days…including “programming” Quakers on how to raise their young, build there nests…and feed their young when they got hungry. They did not have to fly out every time a peep was heard…they had already brought in their fresh food for the day. The parents chewed it up…and a warm meal was ready to feed the tiny, tiny babies. In ALL the chicks that we had rescued so far today, EVERY one of them had a FULL crop…and their poops were a dark, dark green…and large in amount. Their eyes…those that had them open were bright and full of life…all of this…until this point and time… WITHOUT the touch of a HUMAN hand.

Harry was back up the pole is his bucket emptying out 2 other nest chambers with varying stages of newborn babies. I had never seen so many cute “nekkid” Quakers at these ages before. I nestled them carefully into a plastic bucket and helped David clean up some of the nest removal mess. Then my mind went quickly back to my precious cargo. I carefully loaded the rest back into the car so I could get them to *Adolph’s Parrot Palace as soon as possible. Harry wanted me to wait until the next nest was removed but I  told him I had to go now. I have learned to listen to that “voice within”. I told Harry I would deliver them as quickly as possible and get back to them.

I have to admit I went faster than I normally drive but I was ever so careful in doing so. It is my birthday…and I am NOT going to lose a baby on my watch. Having such young ones in my care was a bit scary…like carrying the finest porcelain. I arrived at Adolph’s in good time. One of the store clerks happened to be outside. I honked…which shook her a bit. I motioned for her to come to the car window and then asked her to go get Adolph for me. He was expecting me. I then hopped out of the car and readied the babies for their journey inside the pet store. He moved the tiny 4 out of the middle of the nest like he had been doing it for many, many years. But then, that is why I was bringing the babies to him.. he knows what he needs to do…and I don’t.  He was also amazed to see the wonder of the inside of a Quaker nest. The other babies were moved as quickly as possible from my towel lined bucket to his smaller bedding lined bucket and the incubator was set up for the wee ones.

I took my buckets back to the car and changed the towels for fresh ones…and took of for the next rescue. I drove as fast as I safely could, as I did not want to hold up Harry and David. I looked briefly at the map while waiting at the next red light. I had an idea where I was going. I got up on the interstate, got on the next interstate…then got lost. I had to pull off the road and REALLY look at the map. I wasn’t too far of course…I just had not gone far enough. So I got back on…and this time OFF at the right street. I saw Harry and David sit outside next to their trucks…thank goodness I was watching…. They got back in their trucks and I pulled over until they passed me. I followed close behind. We were in the horse area of town…lots of beautiful horses in many pastures. We only went a few miles when Harry pulled over. While Harry was getting his harness on, he told me he had never serviced this pole before. What he meant was this nest was new. I knew what that meant…the babies were going to be young. As we learned together, the louder the parents are, the smaller the babies are. The tiny, tiny babies’ parents were the noisiest…they growled the whole time we were by their nest…even after it was gone…they growled and flew around us. Now we had several sets of Quakers flying around “yelling” at us. What I thought was so sad…just a few feet from this pole were MANY melalucca trees…with several Quaker nests in them…and you could here the babies in them. If only…if only these parents had built their nest in the trees…I told the flying parents to go rebuild in the tress…and this won’t happen again. The babies coming out of this nest were small…but not like the “porcelain” ones. Until….”this one is hatching right here in my hand”. By the time he could get the bucket down…it was OUT of the shell. Which of course made me a nervous wreck. We all agreed to name the newborn David. I took the littlest one and CAREFULLY and NERVOUSLY placed it in a warm corner of the towel and covered it up. I remember hearing something about getting it fed within 2 hours of hatching…which I could do…and keeping it moist…which I could NOT do. The next part of the nest was very hard to get to…the bucket could not go any farther because of the wires. Harry carefully pulled 6 beautiful eggs out of the nest and told me that was the end for today. I carefully loaded the 6 eggs for warmth…situated all the wee ones for a journey to their new home. I once again told the Quaker parents to move the nest to the TREES!

I told Harry and David I enjoyed “working” with them…thanked them for a their help…and that I hopefully would see them again. I successfully made my u turn and headed back to Adolph’s…without getting lost. I took the buckets of babies inside. They needed a bigger incubator and made room for it. The babies that I had dropped off earlier had been banded and fed. The eggs had been candled and were shown to be infertile. The newest arrivals were moved into buckets according to size…and set in the incubator. The littlest ones were also fed a cc or so of pedialyte. I was thanked for the babies…and I KNEW they would get the best of care…and I went home happy. I did tell them I would be back later so my hubby could take pictures. We did go back later…they all looked happy…those with and without their eyes open. The last delivery of 6 eggs…all fertile.

I know I did a good thing today, I made a difference, but not everyone is happy. Some Quakers will go to bed tonight…in a new nest in a new location…without their babies. The babies will be warm tonight and fed…but not by their parents. Again, man and nature meet…and again nature loses. As for me, I had a birthday I will never forget… I saw the awesome of God.

The *names were changed for privacy reasons.