Bird rescue

GENTRY -- About 10 days ago, 12 year-old Jake Truman, of Gentry, found a bird egg in his backyard. It was white and about the size of a robin's egg.

Jake persuaded his mother to let him keep it, so he did some research on the Internet and was able to determine the temperature at which the egg needed to be kept in order to hatch. He set up a heat lamp, placed the egg on some soft cloths next to a thermometer and kept close watch on the temperature.

Eight days later, his efforts were rewarded. When Jake checked on the egg after returning home from school, he saw that it was in the process of hatching. He watched it closely, and within a couple of hours the tiny bird had struggled free of the shell.

Jake named the baby "Lucky," and within a few minutes, he was back on the Internet to see what and how to feed this small hatchling. Cat food soaked in water seemed to be the recommendation, so off he went to the store and purchased a bag of food with his birthday money.

Tapping on the bird's beak with a toothpick elicited the correct response, and he was able to drop in some very tiny bits of food.

But the instructions were to do this every 15 minutes. Realizing that this was not going to be possible, Jake's mother put in a call to Morning Star Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Gravette, and they agreed to take the bird. Jake's stepdad delivered the baby safely to the rescue on the next morning where Lynn Sciumbato determined that it was a baby dove.

She said that the rescue has about 30 baby birds in residence, which is normal for this time of year.

Thanks to Jake's perseverance and dedication, and wildlife rescue groups such as Morning Star, this baby has a second chance at life, and hopefully will be able to be released safely back into this big wide world!

Jake's parents are Rick and Jaime Still, and Tim and Sabrina Truman, all of Gentry.