birdie buddies
this morning when i came back from breakfast, i saw two tiny chirpers sitting in the yard. they weren’t afraid of me, and they were obviously babies. looked around for a nest for a while, but found nothing. it was weird. didn’t touch them, since i don’t know anything about wild birds. just made sure the cat was inside, and left them alone for an hour or so. after they didn’t go anywhere, i called the local humane society and got an orphaned wildlife number, since it was either deal with them or let the cat eat ‘em. the guy there was cool, and walked me through the steps to make reasonably sure they were truly orphaned. in case they were, he told me how to get them, what kind of food to make, and how to feed them. he also had more phone numbers, starting with a local rescue/rehab lady.
she answered immediately. said she needed to take care of some things, but would arrange a meeting later in the day if i were going to feed them and keep them warm, which i said would be no problem. we hung up, then i got a box, put paper towels in it, and went out to see if they were still unattended. they were chirping and acting hungry, so i went ahead and gathered them up after a last search for parents or a nest. pretty easy, though neither was super psyched about being in the box at first.
took them to my room, got a 500w shop light pointed at them, and began the food soaking procedure (would take about 20 minutes). did some quick internet searching, and found that a good ballpark temp for them was 90 degrees. i arranged the box so there was some shade and some bright light, to let them choose, then put a wireless thermometer somewhere in the middle.
when the food was ready enough to give them some, i dipped my middle finger in it (since it was the longest) and offered it to the first open mouth, which was from the bigger bird. the little guy wasn’t interested at first, but finally got into it. ended up feeding them every 20–30 minutes, and quickly found out that my pinky worked best. once i got that together and the food was completely ready (no chunks), they got some big bites in. no problem knowing when to feed them, because they let me know, and also stopped begging after 2 or 3 good bites once i got the technique down and wasn’t trying to operate the camera at the same time.
Click pic for 1.3MB .mpg video
after 3 or 4 feedings, the rescue lady called, and i met her at the tail end of one of her errands in town. so within a few hours they’d gone from presumed orphans (at least guaranteed cat food) to rescues, and she’ll probably have them released within a few weeks, i guess. no matter what happens, it was fun playing bird dad. that was my first experience with wild birds, i think. nice how easily my recent parrot experience transferred over. birds are the coolest. wish i had the time and stability to own a few, though my policy on cages and clipped wings would make it difficult (i don’t like keeping animals captive, nor clipping a bird’s wings).