A dove without flight

I found this dove hobbling along the sidewalk on my afternoon walk with Nina today. She couldn't fly. I hooked Nina's leach to a fencepost and quietly went after her. She got herself stuck trying to wedge herself through a chain link fence, and I was able to pick her up and carry her home. I put her in this milk crate and did a quick internet search for bird rescue in the city.

I called a couple places, and quickly got a call back from a lady who takes care of birds out of her home. I gently put the bird in Brian's Rav 4, and drove east on I40 to Eubank and Constitution. When I arrived at the lady's house, she picked up the bird and felt it's wings, and concluded that the wings weren't broken. She turned it over and looked at it's feet, and there one of her little feet was scrapped and red. She thought that the bird was probably hit, and was in shock. The bird lady was very sweet and very strange, and from my little peak into her house it looked dark and full of animal/bird cages. I left the dove in good hands.

Five minutes after I drove away, she called me to say that she discovered the bird had a broken esphosphogus (probably from being hit by something) and that she had to insert a tube to it's stomach to give it some water and food. Other than that, she said the bird was in an incubator and would be with her for about 2-3 weeks. It looked like it would be fine. She gave me a whole lot more information about birds, and injuries and animal biology in general.

A very sweet, quirky, strange experience this evening. I'm glad I found a good place for the dove to heal. I wonder if she would be willing to be a guest speaker in my kindergarten and bring along a couple of her healed, beloved flying friends...?