So yesterday morning when I was leaving for the hospital I saw that there was an injured bird in the driveway (I actually had to spend some extra time getting the truck out to stop from running him over). He was doing a choatic hop-about and obviously couldn’t fly, but I was rushed so I texted Caitlin to go save him. She couldn’t find him, but I managed to track him down and bring him in when I got back. He has a broken wing and a badly broken leg. We have racoons, possums, rats, and a number of feral cats that live around our building, so he’s lucky to have even survived the morning. There’s no way he’d survive the night outside, so we set out on what I hope is not a fool’s errand trying to nurse him back to health. I do wish Nefarious was here to help, she would love this.
Right now we’ve built him a makeshift safehouse here in the studio out of a giant box, and have been giving him water and lots of food that he’s seeming to eat in decent quantity. And shooting out the other end as well, which I take as a good sign for his survivability. On the other hand, he can’t really stand up and sort of just rolls around so he’s very pathetic and sad looking at the moment. We weren’t sure if he was even going to make it through the first night here but he does seem to be doing a little better. Fingers crossed for him. As soon as he seems well enough to fly he’s back out into the wild. Maybe we’ve given him a chance. I’m guessing that he smucked a window and was stunned and then maybe got clipped by a passing car or something. It doesn’t look like he was attacked.
I wonder if he has bird friends who are wondering where he is…
Other than that, yes, I did make it out to the post office with a small mountain of skull rings and goodies to mail. I’ll try and update the shop tomorrow with cool new stuff as well. I made a set of new molds for the “women’s” size skull rings (sizes 6 through 9) but I made an error and they are deformed so I have to remake them tomorrow. But I might put the two funny quasimodos up anyway. I’m going to set the eyes and see how they look first. I felt a bit bad at the post office because some people who were there to just send single things had to wait for half an hour as all my stuff was processed. I’d have let them go in front, but this post office is small and only has one computer so they couldn’t (as far as I know) pause my processing. Still, I didn’t deserve their dirty looks in my opinion!
9 Comments
You are doing all the right things for the bird, the odds are it will recover enough to go on it’s own.
Line the box with WHITE paper towels to make it easy to keep a keen eye out for parasites and baby roaches for at least the first few days; use light colored rubber gloves when handling it for the same reason.
Having an older bird like you do that can feed itself eliminates almost all the work and sleep loss that comes with having to feed a little fuzz ball pretty much whenever it’s awake for the first few weeks.
You seem to have a sparrow and sparrows like to wander off and get lost as soon as they are able, and you’ll never see it again which can be heartbreaking. Birds with a more pronounced prefrontal cortex than sparrows are more fun because they go through an adolescence where they come back for about a week for food and to play.
It’s a cedar waxwing. They are very cool birds. You might want to get in contact with a wildlife rehabilitator. Chances are a broken wing and badly broken leg won’t heal enough on their own for survivability. The local human society should know the local rehabber network.
Cedar waxwing is so beautiful. Even if he/she doesnt make it, it’s better to go in relative comfort than uncared for.
Biking back this evening from picking up my mail (thanX SDL) looking ahead on Tarpon Ave about 5:00 AM I noticed what from a distance in the dim light my brain registered as “turkeys” a bit closer it was a buzzard a bit smaller and black – a car had hit and killed a big cat – no way the “turkey buzzards” could pick it up and get it off the road and likewise no one was getting out of their car to move the cat –
I’d wager by done the cat’s gone and so are them buzzards.
I use Canada Posts Electronic Shipping Tools (EST) to process most of my larger packages that dont require a simple stamp.
Easier at the post office because you can just drop them off and they scan them and you’re done.
or just bundle the orders to ship out once a week and get CPs parcel pickup service for an extra $3.50
Amazing how with everything going on the buzzards spotted the dead cat – there must have been a dozen of ‘im.
J think a bout it – a cat gets smacked – and there are a dozen of these buzzards doing what they do
is this why they dome cities in ScFi Flicks?
We rehabbed a baby robin when I was pregnant with Bob. Let it live in our bathroom (terrible idea, bird shit EVERYWHERE). Had to be fed so often I remember going to Toronto with it in a box on my lap, en route to Scott’s kilt fitting for our wedding.
Highly inconvenient and time consuming, but it did learn to fly and hung out for the following year (not sure if it still does, as we moved).
Also rescued birdies that DIDN’T make it – they are prone to trying to strangle themselves on small openings. Make sure there are no head sized holes… done that one.
Also:
Women’s sized skull rings. YES!
Post a Comment