Baby Bird

I came home from work and changed clothes and we let the dogs out in the back yard. I followed them out and when I got off of the deck I saw Cheetah heavily focused on something. Then I noticed it was a bird. My first thought was "Oh god she finally caught one." This thought was followed closely by "Ew dead bird I need to get her away from it in case it died from something she can catch." So I quickly warned her off of it (which I am certain would have done no good if it had moved) and got myself between her and the bird. Standing directly over it, I began to suspect that it was not dead at all. So I grabbed Cheetah's collar and shielded the bird with my hand and called Mr. Pell-Mel over. Swiffer realized I was outside at this point and came bounding over but verbal warning DOES work on her so she stopped. Maybe she veered away when Mr. Pell-Mel called her. I was pretty focused on what I now thought was an injured bird.

So with my mother's voice loudly in the back of my mind saying "are you out of your mind - that is a wild bird, it could be diseased or who knows what else!" I proceeded to examine the bird. Mr. Pell-Mel offered to "take care of it" if I wanted to take Cheetah. I asked him what exactly he might mean by that and he said, "well it is not likely to survive is it?" That pretty much turned my resolve to steel that if I had to give the little thing mouth to mouth, I was going to do everything I could for this little bird. (For the record, he was trying to be compassionate and helpful. I am not trying to portray him as the bad guy here.) So I said "well we don't know yet. Just hang onto the dog." By now Cheetah was getting a little agitated, as I was clearly getting to play with the interesting thing she found and she was being held back!!

Birdy was sitting with her wings a little bit out so I gently moved her to the side a bit to try and determine if she was sick or hurt. She moved very slightly but I saw no injury. She was playing possum. Thank god or Cheetah's prey instinct would have kicked in and I'd be having nightmares for the next 5 years. So eventually I just picked it up. That did it. When I picked her up (no idea if it was male or female so I am assigning a pronoun) she flapped vigorously and squawked loudly. I used to own a bird so I know how to hold one relatively securely without hurting it. But what this told me was there was no injury to the wings or feet. Then I noticed the back was a little fuzzy and the wings were very very short. I also used to clip my bird's wings, so I have a rough idea of what it takes to be able to fly. These wings were clearly not cut, so with such short wings I determined that this was a fledgling! By now the poor little thing was panting. So I held her and walked around the house trying to figure out what to put her in. Mr. P-M kept the dogs outside and I called Animal Control. They referred me to Wildlife Rescue. I called them and listened to their lengthy recording about what to do if you find a feathered fledgling. At some point in there Mr. P-M came inside and brought me a shoebox and I put Birdy in there with the top a little skewed for air since she was panting as I held her. I know that panting is a sign of either stress or overheating (likely the former in this case), neither of which are helped by me holding her.

Birds will not reject a chick handled by a human. Uninjured fledglings should be placed back near the place they were discovered - back in the nest if one is visible - so that the parents can find them and feed them. In the mean time they should be kept in a secure, darkened place with air holes and should NOT be offered food or water, which can result in death from a well meaning person. They should not be handled to "comfort" them because it doesn't comfort them, but only scares them more. I left a message with the rescue telling them I think I found a fledgling and that I planned to put it back where I found it and if there was anything else please call me.

I took Birdy outside and opened up the shoebox under the large bush in out back yard. I looked in the bush for evidence of a nest, but it is very dense and I did not want to risk disturbing anything further. By now the dogs had been transferred inside so I could let Birdy go. She hopped out and scurried right under that bush and disappeared immediately. Of course at this point it occurred to me that I should have taken a picture! Argh. I had thought of it briefly while I was on the phone but got caught up in my concern for Birdy. Oh well. At least she was OK.

She definitely looked like a baby robin. So I kept on eye on the bush and saw a couple of robins fly near and one did appear to go under the bush. A little later I am pretty sure I saw Birdy working on her flying skills under the bush. So I feel pretty good about her chances.

Someone from the rescue did call me back and said it sounded like I did everything right. It is so easy for a well meaning person to harm a wild animal so I was highly relieved. I asked how long it would likely take her to learn to fly and he said probably a few days - a week at the outside. So the dogs will not be visiting the back yard for the remainder of the week. I will check for her to see if I see her hopping around a couple of times a day, and they said to check for fresh droppings to make sure she is being fed. But that bush is very popular with birds so I am guessing I won't have much luck in that arena. I'll still look though. I feel good about her chances.

Of course I was pretty amped up on adrenaline after that and the dogs were beside themselves because they could feel that. So I took them to the dog park and everyone blew off some steam. I found the entire experience highly rewarding. It was so neat to have that kind of contact with a wild bird. But even moreso it was really great that Birdy was unhurt and has a shot at a happy and healthy little bird life.