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Once in a while a creature of the wild will interact with a human in a bizarre and special way. Bridge City resident, Gary Boudreaux, has recently experienced one of those unique happenings.

Boudreaux moved to Bridge City about three years ago. He lives with his wife, Shirley, on Dixie Drive behind the Post Office. A few weeks ago he was in his back yard “working around my shack”, he said, getting his lawn mowers ready to mow.

A bird chirping wildly caught his attention so he came out of his shed to see what the ruckus was all about. He spotted a young Mockingbird sitting on his privacy fence chirping its little head off. He started walking towards it, curious as to why it was being so loud.

“The closer I got, the more it chirped,” laughed Boudreaux.

He moved gradually closer to the bird until he was about three feet away from it. The bird stayed put on the fence and was not afraid. Astonished, he called to Shirley to come outside and see what was happening. Again, the little bird did not fly away as they approached it. She could hardly believe it either.

The couple noticed a blue band on the bird’s leg. Boudreaux decided to take it a step further, moved in closer and stuck out his finger to see if it would hop on. Sure enough, that’s just what it did.

“It was a weird phenomenon,” he said.

With the bird on his finger, he walked over to his grandchildren’s swing set and let it perch on a bar. He tried feeding it some birdseed, but it was too young to crack the seeds. So he sliced some seedless grapes and put them in cold, ice water.

“It really loved that,” Boudreau stated.

The bird stayed all evening, seeming to enjoy hanging out around the swing set. The next morning, Boudreaux’s new feathered friend was still close by, chirping away.

Boudreaux gave a whistle and the fearless bird flew to the swing set for another visit. Because of the blue band on its leg, he decided to name it “Bandy” and for six more days Bandy came calling when Boudreaux would whistle. One afternoon, when he was trying to take some pictures, Bandy decided to perch first on the camera, and then jumped from his shoulder right up onto his head.

“The grandkids and a few neighbors found it all quite interesting,” he added.

Boudreaux was curious about the band on Bandy’s leg and started asking around about it. A bird lover from the bird watching trail in Bridge City, said the bird may have fallen out of the nest and been raised by humans for a short time until it could fly. The blue band would let them be able to identify the bird as the one they had cared for if they saw it again. This would explain why Bandy does not have a normal fear of humans and did not fly away when Boudreaux approached it.

A woman employee at the botanical gardens told Boudreaux the blue band was used to identify a bird’s flight patterns and habits. She added that he should enjoy the unusual interaction while it lasted with Bandy because he, or she, would soon fly away.

Her prediction proved to be correct. Boudreaux hasn’t seen Bandy for several weeks. But now and then he gives a whistle, just in case his extraordinary, chirpy friend is close by.