Gone to the Bird

This time of year is always at least partially spent searching our yard after storms for baby birds hurled willy-nilly out of bending, blowing trees. Over the years I've found many- too many to give any sort of accurate count. We've found starlings, cow birds, grackles, doves, sparrows and the usually ill-fated robin (I find robins to be the wimp of the bird kingdom). This usually involves a quick dash into Lincoln to the bird-lady of wildlife rescue to drop off the poor bundle- unless the poor bundle is being cared for by parent birds and able to survive without human interference- more on this below. Last Friday morning was a bit different.

 As I was cleaning up the breakfast things, my boys were outside playing and had run up the hill to see some friends who were flagging them down. The friends had found a baby starling in a mud puddle in their back yard. He was struggling with one wing, and had only the very beginning of pin feathers on his wings. My eldest son quickly picked him up and ran home with him. We happened to have a shoe box on hand, but after seeing him, I determined that he needed warming up first. We wrapped him in paper towels and placed him inside a teacup that would hold him still as he warmed up. His eyes were closed, and he only said one little peep. I found a straw and cut the end into a scoop, and located a tin of soft cat food which I mixed a small portion of with water and tipped a drop into the corner of his big, yellow lips. And wonder of wonders, he perked up. It took about three forced feedings for him to begin 'gaping' for the blue straw- a surrogate bird beak. For once, we were unable to locate 'the bird lady', so little bird has been with us ever since. Check out his progress-

Touchy things are baby birds. Their diets are varied- you have to know what each species diet looks like. You have to be willing to get up and feed at night, as with any other baby. They require a certain level of heat- especially those not yet feathered. I felt a little like I was flying by the seat of my pants with this little one. For once, it has worked. Sometimes the trick is knowing when to intervene and when to not. If a bird is a nestling and lacking all or most feathers, chances are slim they'll survive outside of the nest. Sometimes it's possible to place them back in the nest- other times it is not. That is when you intervene. If the bird is entirely feathered out and hard to catch- leave it be. If the bird is feathered out and injured- different story. Basically, it comes down to using a bit of common sense, and being willing to watch for adult birds caring for the baby. Usually they are.

Starlings are an introduced species to North America, and as so are considered a pest, something to get rid of by many people- even though current research has shown that their impact has been far less than originally thought on native bird populations.  I can't help but draw lines of similarity with ourselves in this respect: My ancestors came here and moved right on in, regardless of how the natives felt about it. But I didn't ask to be born here (not that I'm not happy I was!). Same with little starling. It wasn't his choice to be hatched in a tree in Pleasant Dale, Nebraska. But he was, and when he fell, someone noticed.