Maria Bertrand always liked birds, but it never crossed her mind to have one. Now he has developed his own form of communication to feed Happy, the rescued sparrow.
“He knows the worm worm, which is his favorite. He’ll hit my pick if he wants what I say, ”Bertrand said.
The Beaconsfield native, who now lives in Los Angeles, found herself happily lying on the street in May 2020 during her daily run from the pandemic.
“At first I thought it was a crab because it was one day old. So he was just a little, little, little boy with no feathers. I could not see. So I went up to him and realized it was the bird, ”he told Global News.
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Animal rehabilitation centers were closed due to the pandemic. So he brought the injured bird home and fed him puppy food every 20 minutes to help him survive.
“He gave me a resolution every 20 minutes of every day from sunrise to sunset, and it really helped me through a really terrible time,” he said.
When they finally saw Happy at a bird sanctuary, they told Bertrand that he could not be released due to his damaged beak. Without even thinking about it, he offered to carry it.
A sparrow’s beak curves downward, but Happy’s beak curves upward, which gives it its name.
“Its damaged beak makes it look like it’s always smiling,” explained Bertrand.
From the moment the couple wake up, they are rarely separated from each other. Bertrand said he follows her as she prepares in the morning and will even land on the end of her toothbrush while she brushes her teeth.
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“It has deepened my understanding of these little wild creatures that are constantly communicating with each other, that they are constantly aware of us when we don’t know them,” he said. “And we really should start paying attention because they have a lot to teach us.”
Bertrand decided to share the joy Happy brings him by creating an Instagram page for the songbird, under the username. @happyparrow. He has more than 37,000 followers from around the world.
“I got messages from people on chemotherapy saying, ‘Happy made me smile today,’” Bertrand said, adding that as long as he receives these types of messages, he will continue to run Happy’s account.
The producer is now creating a documentary based on his story called Find happy. The film will be released in 2022.
“It’s a piece about a kind of compassion and kindness, and it was brought about by this little guy,” Bertrand said as Happy rested on his finger.
She hopes Happy can change people’s lives the way he has changed hers for the better.
“I can’t remember how much a heart weighs, like 27 grams or something like that. But I’ll say mine weighs 24 and flutters out of my body, ”Bertrand said.
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Reference-globalnews.ca