I wish I could show you pictures of the birds in my backyard, but my camera is not the best for taking “nature shots.” I’ve been sitting on my back porch watching those birds this morning, intrigued by something I have never seen.

I’ve watched one particular bird for several days. Perhaps it is some kind of thrush…I can’t seem to find a picture in my field guide to birds that matches it exactly. It’s just a nondescript brown bird the size of a robin (but it’s definitely not a robin). The bird seems to be infirm. It sits on the deck and shakes, as if it has palsy.

As the other birds gather at the feeder, it sits aside and does not approach. I wouldn’t either, if I were that bird, because those birds are crazy. It’s like a free for all on one of those wrestling shows on television. Blue jays hassle the cardinals, who pounce on the wrens. They all seem to tackle the sparrows. Grackles come in and beat up everybody.

Those birds are vicious with one another, as they vie for their place on the feeder. No family of birds seems to tolerate sharing the feeder with any other kind of bird.

All the while, this little bird just sits on the deck and shakes.

This morning, a regal red cardinal flew down beside that sick bird and just scooted up next to it, wing to wing. They sat quietly side by side for a few moments, and that seemed to calm the shaking for that sick bird. Then, the cardinal flew up to the feeder, grabbed a sunflower seed, and dropped back to the deck beside the sick one. The cardinal placed the seed in the sick bird’s mouth.

As that little brown bird flopped around struggling to swallow the seed, the cardinal flew to the feeder for another. Again and again, the cardinal brought seeds for the sick bird and fed it. I was mesmerized, because I’ve never seen one kind of bird “helping” another. Then the squirrels converged on the scene, and all the birds flew away.

I’d like to think that cardinal is “kind,” but I have seen it fight aggressively with other birds. I wonder what possessed him to take the sick bird “under his wing?”