I left my house saturday morning to go to work. Just past the edge of my house I look at the side of the road and theres a baby bird sprawled out on the edge of the road. Looking right at me. Wing outstretched. His leg dangling behind him.
So I HIT the brakes, shove it into reverse and go backwards down the road back into my driveway. Of course BF is standing there looking at me like I've lost my mind.
I think I put it in park, look at him & say, I'll go to work right after I help this bird... and ran down the road in front of my house.
Well the poor little guy looked at me with pleading baby bird eyes. He was a large baby, black feathers and bill, probably a crow, (I'm not so good at IDing the babies, but thats my best educated guess). I looked for a nest. he was near the base of a tree. Nothing. Then I looked closer at him. It seemed he possibly had tried to fly, he had his flight feathers, but didn't do so well and maybe got hit by a car on his way down. I reached for him to pick him up and he gaped at me, so I knew he needed food and should have been all cozy at home with his mama, and hopped on one foot to run away, bad leg.
So, v e r y g e n t l y I picked him up. Road rash on his shoulder, right eye puffed and sore looking, had to fold right wing in. And sent BF for a shoebox so I could take him with me to work and get a hold of a wildlife rehabilitator. So 4 phone calls later and 3 answering machines, no rehabber. Poor little guy is breathing rough, I'm not able to get him to gape again,(I have live mealworms at work to feed him). 1 1/2 hour later, God has mercy on my shattered nerves. He sends the lady that works in town hall in to shop. Eureeka! Maybe she knows of another rehabber! And she did. One was even home! After I hung up with him baby started gaping. Could he have known help was on the way? So I fed him a couple of mealworms. No easy feat without tweezers/hemostats. Then Mr rehabber showed up. YAY! My Hero!
I hope baby is ok.
I didn't get pics of him I was more concerned with getting him help. Now I wish I'd taken some, but the flash might have stressed him more (Bad thing).

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Summer Camp '07, July 14th weekend, won't you join us?
summer camp thread 1, 2, 3,4

I love Crows, too. As a boy I rehabbed several baby crows. They stayed with me for their entire life, which was well into adulthood. We would let them outside when they wanted to go out and let them back in when they were ready to come in, just like a dog or cat. Brilliant and highly intelligent they knew their names and I believe understood a lot of what we said to them. They may be near or equal to human intelligence in a non-technological way (as are Parrots, Cindy).

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A bird in the hand......can sometimes be a mess.

im wondering....
what would cause a starling to savagely attack a much smaller chipping sparrow? i was out back and heard the sparrow crying and turned around to see a starling attacking it. and it looked like an innercity attack! i expected to see the starling pull a shiv and shank the little thing.
i scared the staling off but he didnt go far.
it kept coming back and trying to have another go at the sparrow. i got mad and took a shovel and started banging the fence every time it landed. it finnally left but when i went back to check on the sparrow,it had high tailed it.
no thank you,no three wishes or nothing.

the worst part of it is,when i got home tonite,
something flattened the tires on my camper.
starlings revenge, i guess.

i think i may be a marked man now!

at least the squirrells are leaving me alone.

I recently saw a starling swoop down and snag a baby purple finch while its parents were dive bombing it to try to save their baby. It was bird chaos. The starling ended up flying off with the baby and the finch parents were going nuts.

A Starling tried to attack a baby House Sparrow that was learning to fly from its nest in my front porch, but the parent Sparrows chased it away.

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A bird in the hand......can sometimes be a mess.

I like fantasy with ogre's and trolls, and epic battles, and super heroic deeds, and lots of good food and drink, too.

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A bird in the hand......can sometimes be a mess.

*****UPDATE****

One of the rehabbers I tried to get a hold of for the baby is also one of my customers at my store. She came in yesterday and told me the rehabber I gave baby to gave it to Michelle (whos Michelle? i dunno') who in turn gave it to her. He's coming along well. Will be released in time. He still gapes for food so is still young. Has a broken foot and damage on his head around his right eye. But he's getting better! YAY!
I didnt ask for the update but got it and it fits into my he'll be fine fantasy so all is well.
Now wheres that good food and drink Thorny?

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Summer Camp '07, July 14th weekend, won't you join us?
summer camp thread 1, 2, 3,4