Maria Bertrand always liked birds, but it never crossed her mind to get one. Now she has developed her own form of communication to feed Happy the rescued sparrow.
“He knows wormy worm, which is his favourite. He’ll tap my beak if he wants what I’m saying,” said Bertrand.
The Beaconsfield native, who now lives in Los Angeles, found happy lying on the street in May 2020 during her daily pandemic run.
“I thought it was a crab at first because he was a day old. So he was just a teeny-tiny, little, little guy with no feathers. He couldn’t see. And so I got closer to him and I realized it was the bird,” she told Global News.
Animal rehab centres were closed because of the pandemic. So she took the injured bird home and fed him puppy food every 20 minutes to survive.
“He gave me a purpose every 20 minutes of every day from sunup to sundown, and he really just helped me through a really awful time,” she said.
When Happy was finally seen at a bird sanctuary, they told Bertrand he couldn’t be released into the wild due to his damaged beak. Without even thinking, she offered to take him.
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A sparrow’s beak curves down, but Happy’s beak curves up, giving him his name.
“His damaged beak makes him look like he’s always smiling,” explained Bertrand.
From the time the pair wake up, they rarely leave each other’s side. Bertrand said he follows her around as she’s getting ready in the morning and will even land on the end of her toothbrush while she brushes her teeth.
“He’s deepened my understanding of these little wild creatures that are constantly communicating with each other, that are constantly aware of us when we are so unaware of them,” she said. “And we really should start paying attention because they do have a lot to teach us.”
Bertrand decided to share the joy Happy brings her by creating an Instagram page for the songbird, under the username @happythesparrow. It has more than 37,000 followers from around the world.
“I got messages from people in chemo saying, ‘Happy made me smile today,'” said Bertrand, adding that as long as she gets these types of messages, she will keep running Happy’s account.
The producer is now creating a documentary based on their story called Finding Happy. The film is set to be released in 2022.
“It’s a piece about kind of just compassion and kindness, and it was sparked by this little guy,” Bertrand said as Happy rested on her finger.
She hopes Happy can change people’s lives the way he has changed hers for the better.
“I can’t remember how much a heart weighs, like, 27 grams or so? But I will say mine weighs 24 and flutters outside my body,” said Bertrand.
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