Katie Adlong spotted what looked like a tiny stuffed animal in her front yard. When the 36-year-old Amarillo woman bent down to pick it up, she heard a distinct chirping noise. Peering closer, Adlong realized this was not a stuffed animal.
“Oh my gosh,” Adlong recalled squealing. “It’s a bird.”
Covered in white fuzz with a smidge of a black beak and tiny curled feet, the baby fit neatly into her palm, its black eyes shut.
As she and her husband, Shea, entertained friends Saturday night swimming and chatting, Adlong researched online and thought she had found a barn owl. She worried the baby, now slightly shaking, was freezing.
Nearby, her husband grilled bratwursts and tortillas, and Adlong got an idea.
“That’s now a baby blanket,” she told her husband, grabbing a plate and warm tortilla.
Adlong swaddled the baby bird in the lightly grilled Mission tortilla and called a wildlife rescue. The woman who answered the call asked if they had placed the bird in a box, and Adlong responded that she had instead wrapped it in a tortilla.
The wildlife rescuer went silent for a few moments, then confirmed the address and said someone was on the way. Five minutes later, a rescuer with the Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center showed up to find the tortilla-wrapped baby.
“Undoubtedly, it was an inventive method to keep the baby warm, and surprisingly, it was effective,” the rescue wrote on Facebook in a now-viral post, adding this would only happen “in Texas and maybe Mexico.”
Rescuers determined the bird is actually a Mississippi Kite, a small migratory raptor. The adult birds are particularly aggressive when intruders come near their nests or babies, so this baby’s parents were likely killed, the rescuers told Adlong.
Wildlife rescuers said the birds feast on insects and rodents, which are frequently poisoned by pesticides, Adlong said. When birds of prey eat those insects and rodents, they, too, can get sick and die.
The baby, named “Taquito” by rescuers, is adapting well, has a healthy appetite and will remain under care for about two months, the rescue wrote. A video shows the bird, perched on a blanket, with its eyes wide open.
Commenters lauded Adlong’s ingenuity.
“Never. And I mean never… underestimate the power of a tortilla,” one said. Another wrote, “Unconventional, but brilliant. Someone get this mother working on world peace.” One commenter added, “I would also like to be wrapped in a warm tortilla. Great idea!”
Adlong said the attention surprised her family, including her two daughters, ages 10 and 14.
“I’m a mom,” she said. “I just did what any mom would do.”
The wildlife center is accepting donations for the baby bird’s care, which includes insects and frozen mice for food. To donate, go to the Wild West Wildlife Rehabilitation Center website.