Something I wrote on Walden's Puddle's Facebook

I wanted to share my experience of going to Walden's Puddle for the first time today. Well, the reason I went is because I saw a sick House Finch with House Finch Disease, noticeably where the eyes get red and swollen shut, making it very difficult to see to be able find food and defend yourself from predators. The disease has other things that affect the bird, too.

So I make an appointment by phone. Upon arriving at WP, I notice the driveway is very steep and curvy, not to mention the thin creek you have to drive over near the entrance. So I eventually make it to the main house and there are multiple outdoor cages with animals inside near the parking area. While walking to the house, there are multiple birdfeeders all around. It is so quiet out there in the woods. I loved that. You would hear a chickadee or titmouse calling from time-to-time, though, which was nice to hear a familiar sound. I rang the doorbell (because it says to on a note outside) and we were greeted by a very nice woman. She immediately took the bird downstairs while we are in the waiting/main area. There are cages all around, with cute little wild animals in each of them. They looked so sweet. When I went up to the opossum cage, he was laying in his carpeted cat post, but he got up to come take a look at me. I think that was the sweetest thing. I would have loved to pick him up and hold him in my arms. There were squirrels in hammock-like sleeping areas, a very small owl (the first animal I saw when I entered). I believe I've seen it in pictures online before. It's the one with one eye. It's a surprisingly tiny owl. There were so many wild animals in the room, it was quite overwhelming to remember. It was very exciting to see so many wild animals up-close. After I talked with the nice lady and got a few pieces of papers, someone came in with a baby mockingbird. Only seen one online. It was so cute. The woman before I left said I could look at the outdoor cages, so I did. The first one was a raccoon and it came over to me and put it's front feet on the cage. So sweet. It really did look sweet and precious. I then went to the other cages, most having hawk-type birds, which were cool to see up-close. Then I saw the squirrel. He was burying his nuts and food in the dirt that he was given. That was so cute. The last animal we saw was a turtle in a pond near the parking area. He swam over to me, which was sweet, but due to the rocks wasn't able to climb up them to get closer to me. I kind of felt he was being sweet and wanting love. After that I left. I didn't really want to. I would've loved to have stay out there forever.

I do want to donate and volunteer at some point. I had an incredible experience at Walden's Puddle. And I'm glad I was able to potentially save the life of a bird, and that Walden's Puddle are able to help save and cure the bird of this all-too-common disease in House Finches, and potentially stop the spread to others that could be infected by this contagious disease.