Fledgeling Cockatoo

by CALLY
I passed this little character on the edge of the road this morning. Cute as! Without the long tail it looked more like an albino penguin. I pulled the car over further along and watched for a while. The parents were calling out to it from up in a tree on the opposite side of the road. Little cocky seemed unable or unwilling to fly but it was starting to move into the road. The traffic was sparse but what did pass by from either end was fast and I very much feared Cocky would become roadkill. I approached it and tried to drop a shirt over it in order to pick it up (I respect that beak!) and move it across the road where I hoped it would then reunite with its parents. Cocky already had the instinct to avoid strangers with shirts and flapped and retreated back into a muddle of twigs.The parents squawked loudly and flew across into a tree the same side.Well, that was an improvement, I thought , so I abandoned my effort and moved back to my car. The parents remained in the tree while I watched, so I left nature to take its course and drove off. It is hard to know when to help and when to leave well enough alone....Late in the day I drove back the same way. I didn't see a white splat so I'd like to think all ended well.