'How does it feel to have a real life Patronus?': Self-proclaimed "bird bender" teaches his rescue sparrow to fly loops on command, raising the chick after it splatted into his front door

When you're a kid and you discover that birds lay nests in the wild and have their eggs just lying around for several months before they hatch, it's tough to avoid being completely captivated by it. Birds are naturally an unattainable creature, because they can fly, so kiddos are inherently obsessed with trying to capture them, train them, and tame them. One person recently lived out this fantasy (on accident) by haphazardly adopting a kamikaze birdo he found on his front door step. 

u/thelastbirdbender

Yes, that is a sparrow. Like the kind you see fluttering around the Starbucks parking lot or swirling overhead in large hoards. This is normally not the kind of bird you can ever even get close to in the wild, so how is it that Elliot, a TikToker and apparent birdmancer has a Disney-princess level friendship with a sparrow? Not only that, but this bird actually LISTENS to him and heeds his commands. 

“Bird Bending”

He calls this strange dance “bird bending” and he's somehow taught this sparrow, which he fondly named Omelette, to follow his hand gestures and fly in circles around him in his room. Incredible right? Well, this all started because Omelette, bless his tiny birdy heart, flew full speed into Elliot's front door one day. Hearing the noise, he rushed to see what was at the door and found the sparrow lifeless on the ground. 

After digging a hole to bury the poor thing, Elliot saw that the bird was still moving, breathing, and trying to stay alive, which was an absolute miracle. Reluctant to name him, Elliot went a full week without giving the birdo a name, worried that he was simply just keeping the bird comfortable until its passing. However, Omelette (named after the egg scramble he almost became) is nearly 7 months old now! 

Elliot taught the sparrow how to fly and has trained him to fly in circles, following specific hand gestures to mimic flight paths and movement. Amazingly, TikTok is super supportive of Elliot rescuing the wild bird and is amazed by the level of trust between these two unlikely friends. 

Hopefully Omelette has a long life of birding ahead of him. What we know for sure is that he'll always have a loving caregiver in Elliot who has no plans to release him into the wild. These two will ride off into the sunset together if they could, dancing and fluttering around each other for eternity.