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Around 7AM, Maggie told me I needed to look on the patio outside the MBR slider...yes, Maggie talks....I mean beyond barking & growling! Anyway, that's another story for another time. This tale is about 3 tiny birds who jumped/fell out of their nest onto the patio ELEVEN COLD HARD FEET below!!!

Two were upright & the tiniest one, who I figured was a goner, was laying on it's back with it's head turned to one side. I turned away to go get an old towel & when I came back 30 seconds later there were only 2 birds there. I'm going on record here to state that Bing, my gatto, was taking his early morning snooze in his usual spot in my closet when I got the towel & I pulled the closet door closed behind me. I made a high-topped nest out of the towel & set it on a chair & gently picked up the only remaining upright little bird & put it in the new nest. Then I reached for the tiniest one who still lay on it's back & as I gently pick it up & righted it, it moved....it was still alive! I added that cold little body to the first in the towel nest & took off in search of the missing little blighter. I eventually found it 20' away in a flower bed. This one, the biggest of the trio clearly knew I was not his mother & wanted to have nothing to do with me! As I was trying to gently capture him, he kept spreading his little wings in a futile attempt to fly to freedom! I eventually captured him & added him to the towel nest with his fellow nest-mates. He promptly climbed up the side of the towel & proceeded to make his way up the back of the chair! I recaptured him & put him back in the towel nest & closed the top & headed for the kitchen to see what I could find that might whet a baby birds appetite. Cream of Wheat!

Alas, as I was mixing a watery Cream of Wheat breakfast for the trio, the biggest one was making good his escape. These guys are so tiny that I wasn't comfortable with attempting to yank their tiny beaks open to shovel the gruel down & I don't have an eyedropper. Suffice it to say, I couldn't get them to eat. I did a thorough search for the escapee to no avail. I knew where he had to be, but I simply couldn't find him amongst the rocks & plant leaves.

As luck would have it, I got distracted when a 9 AM appointment showed up & I went off for about 45 minutes to discuss the work to be done. Much to my chagrin, when I returned to check the towel nest, Bing, the Great White Hunter, had found the biggest & strongest of the baby birds....the escape artist....& sadly, it was curtains for him!

I called my amiga & asked her if she'd try to save the two remaining tiny creatures & she said to bring them over. They got to go for a car ride before they ever flew! I got a call from her right after I got home....5 minutes away. She'd succeeded in getting them both to eat!! I see wide open skies in their future!

If there's a moral to this story, I guess it's that it's not always best to be the biggest, strongest, the most adventuresome....especially when there's a Great White Hunter in the immediate vicinity! Bing wasn't too impressed with my stern lecture on "We don't eat birds!"....I think it impressed him even less than my "Geckos are our friends!" lecture!!

Here are the survivors!

I have gone though this process many times with baby birds and it is always heart touching. Not all make it but I think it says something great about the human spirit in the fact that we strive to help them survive with no more thanks than to see them healthy and be able to fly away...

BG, I agree....no way could I just walk away from them....or WORSE....leave them to the jaws, paws & claws of the Great White Hunter!

La Guera.....Respectfully, HELL NO!!!! But if he'd like to say a few words at the service....then lead the funeral procession to the cemetery.......

No pics to update....just words....my friend has reported that the two survivors are ABSOLUTE GLUTTONS & their poop production is horrendous! Looks like a positive outcome for these two to eventually soar!!

First they began by taking short test flights inside the cage & now they've flown the coop to fend for themselves! Gotta love a happy ending!

Wow, good rescue there and great pics.
We had a finch fly into a window the other day at the station at what seemed like supresonic speed considering the BOOM it made. We thought it was a goner for sure but we brought it into the station and my boss held it for about twenty minutes as the glazed look left it's eyes and it was able fly off under it's own power out our door in short order......had to have a heck of a headache, though.

Nice going Legs...and to your friend too!

thanks..

ARRRRGH!! There must be a hatchery hotline where these new little blighters check to know which yard to get hatched out in....the place with the 90-10% odds!! +90% chance of being discovered by Bing & -10% chance of being discovered by me first.

I went out to take a pic of the HUGE sunset Saturday evening....only to discover this tiny extra photo op perched on a low level branch; just about the height of Bing's killer jaws! He wasn't the slightest bit concerned about me getting up close & personal in his beak to take his pic! He sat there patiently while I came back in the house to confine Bing & get a small cage I keep in the garage for just this type of occasion. Alas, as soon as I gently touched him, he freaked & fluttered down to the ground, let out one tiny lil peep & covered over 10' of ground in nothing flat trying to escape my hand! This little guy's body was less than twice the diameter of my thumb & I was afraid to just grab him for fear of hurting him! I finally carefully laid a towel over him & gently scooped him up & put him in the cage towel & all. I hate manhandling these little blighters! I knew he's still too young to eat on his own, but I put water in the cage, along with some bird seed.....just in case hunger was stronger than any expectation for his birdth Mom coming along to shove some regurgitated delicacy down his gullet!

Nary a peep out of him all night, but once I got up Sunday morning, he peeped non-stop until my amiga came to get him in the afternoon. I tried to get him to open up for some soggy masticated bread, but he wasn't going for it! Unlike me, my amiga's fearless & she'll pry his tiny beak open & shove food down his little gullet!

And no, Bing wasn't buying my lectures of "We don't eats baby birds!" Nor "He's a guest, we don't eat our guests!"

I figured he'd been traumatized enough, I didn't try combing his bedhead!

Awwww...

One advantage of not having water or trees, no birds to worry about

I found these feeding suggestions:

Pedigree Puppy Chow that has been soaked in water making it spongy and moist - make sure the nugget is not dripping with water (too wet) or too dry. It must be like a sponge. (It takes one hour to absorb the water - 1 part food to 2 parts water). If the nugget is too large for the baby, tear it in half. Also, mealworms after pinching the head and crickets are good. If you don't have puppy chow, use what you have in the house - wet cat or dog food, forming a ball the size of a pea and place in its mouth. Dry cat food is also okay to use, after soaking it in water.

Feed the baby room temperature food and throw out the soaked dog/cat food after 12 hours because it will sour.

What to do if you find a wild baby bird...

Thanks BG!! I have a much more simplified solution.....call Olga!

He's got free flying rights in one room in her casa & he rides around on her shoulder! Birds naturally trust her! She told me no need to pry open the tiny beak....according to her if you tap it gently, they'll open wide! Little blighter didn't open when I touched his beak with masticated bread! But then Olga's barely 5' so maybe she's closer to the size of his Mom than I am! Little blighter is going to go on a bus ride this week-end, she's going to her Mom's in Constitucion & her husband refuses to feed the bird, so she's taking him with! This is going to be one well-traveled ?sparrow? by the time he can scavenge food on his own!!

Good news is that I always have dog & cat food, the better news is that I ain't pinching heads off mealy worms or crickets for anything for any reason anyhow!!

Thanks for all ....