Baby Blackbird - did I do the right thing?

[FB.]

I would never have left him behind either FB, he would've come home in my bike panniers.

Keep up with the flying training. I give Kali her flying-training every day to keep her muscles strong. Even though she doesn't have free flight (she's clipped), her wings need to stay strong.

Is the baby gripping yet? On your finger?

After feeding (when we've seen him poo) he's allowed to wander out of his cage onto the table.
At times yesterday he'd flap his wings while just standing there.
After a few minutes he'll sometimes look like he wants to jump onto the floor.

He sometimes has a run around the floor for about ten minutes after feeding, then I put him back. I get him to climb on my finger and I give him the "drop" test (as per Nicos) several times before putting him back in his cage.

Yesterday he made great progress and about half of his food he's picking up himself. A few minutes ago I chopped up a medium-sized worm and a cherry and left the worm wriggling at the front of his cage - he saw the movement, hopped over and ate two of the three pieces of worm and two of the four pieces of cherry.
The other pieces I picked up and put into a foil tray for him to peck at later. The foil tray has a few dozen live, crawling aphids in it which he occasionally pecks at; eating several before getting bored.
He definitely likes to eat a mixture of things with each meal, rather than have just one thing.

Fortunately, in my concern not to give him something bad for him when he first came, I had decided to give him a mixture for each meal so as to "hedge my bets" and hope that even if one of the four pieces was difficult to digest, the other three might be OK.

[FB.]

Cherries.

Did I mention he LOVES chopped cherries (even though they're too bitter for my palate).

I bring him a few home each morning from some big old cherry trees along the roads nearby.

Earlier today when his door was open while preparing his next meal, he even stole a cherry (which was too big for him to swallow whole) from beside his cage and made off with it; dragging it inside his cage by its stalk and trying to peck his way into it!

No wonder cherry trees have to be netted if they're so tasty to the birds.

[Two_Sheds]

he even stole a cherry... dragging it inside his cage by its stalk and trying to peck his way into it!

Love it!

Any chance of a video?

[chris]

or more pics at least

[FB.]

Love it!

Any chance of a video?

I'm not very good with stuff like that; pictures are challenging enough!
But I'll try to take some more pictures tomorrow.

[FB.]

or more pics at least

Any particular poses you'd like me to try to capture?
I'll see what I can do tomorrow because it's a bit dull at the moment and I don't like using flashes (especially near animals).

For the record: he's doing well.
He's able to flutter about 1ft off the ground. He flutters almost every time when given Nicos' "hand-drop test".
He can fly a few feet horizontally - I was holding a plate earlier which he managed to fly across to; he knows that a plate means food (I tend to get a small plate/saucer, fill the middle with water and use it to soak pieces of biscuit and bread and he undoubtedly sees me pick up pieces of his dinner from a plate).

He is partially able to feed himself and has a normal sense of fear or unknown objects (but no fear of humans), but I definitely would not even contemplate letting him loose for some time yet - no chance for at least a week yet and probably longer. In fact, I am beginning to suspect that he might have been "imprinted" due to his young age when found, and he may think he's human.

He'll try to eat anything that moves and manages to peck up aphids, ants and small worms - most of them he manages to pick up and swallow at the first attempt now. For safety I still chop medium-sized worms in half to make them easier to digest.
He'll also randomly peck or chew at objects as if "tasting" them.

He now has a large soup mug (remember the one's from the petrol stations in the 1980's?) [ edit: changed to plastic tray about 20x15x3cm to make digging easier ] half-full of compost/soil and it has a dozen or two small and medium worms in it. He didn't take kindly to the arrival of the soup mug in his cage (fluttering, screeching etc) but after a day he's now no longer afraid of it, but hasn't worked out there are any worms in it.
At feeding time I put a few pieces of chopped cherry, small biscuit fragments or small worms in the soup mug to try to give him a clue that food can be found if he scrabbles around in it. He is scrabbling around in the dried grass/hay in his cage and because it comes form the garden and straight into his cage he sometimes finds and eats a random small bug that was in it.

He now realises that there's no point making any noise when nobody is around. He's quiet after sunrise until he knows we're up and moving about - then all hell breaks loose which a lot of screeching and flapping until he's had his breakfast.

His appetite is quite surprising - he can easily get through all of the following in a day:
Half a dozen medium worms (3-4 inches).
Half a dozen small worms (1-2 inches).
A couple of dozen aphids and ants.
Half a dozen assorted small bugs/flies/moths.
Half a dozen cherries (or equivalent in chopped pieces of other fruit).
A couple of sultanas.
Half a biscuit (soggy with water).
Quarter slice of bread (soaked with water).
Half a dozen unknown things that he manages to find.

He helps himself to the aphids; pecking at them as he pleases between meals.
He gets about half of the worms chopped up and the others whole - but I make him pick them up himself. He likes worms and cherries so much that I have to save them until after he refuses to eat any of the other things which I still feed by hand. So the chopped worms and chopped cherries are placed on the floor in front of him after his other food has been given and he has to pick them up himself (which he manages very efficiently now).

He still seems to be very good at "knowing" what he needs: although he now has a dozen pea-sized portions for each feed (and feeds are now every 2-3 hours), he won't accept more than two or three of the same thing before he spits it out and won't eat more until he's given something else.

Anyway.....I've waffled enough, but if anyone has any questions please ask while it's fresh in my mind.

[Two_Sheds]

(should he be eating bread? It's not really nutritious for birds ..?)

[FB.]

(should he be eating bread? It's not really nutritious for birds ..?)

The wet bread and wet biscuit was mainly a carrier for water, to ensure he didn't get dehydrated. It also had the bonus of a small amount of nutrients and carbohydrates for energy.
The other options for getting water into him seemed too awkward or risked choking him.
I also quickly found that he much more readily swallowed wet food than dry food (he will still spit out dry food; everything has to be wet or juicy).

I suspect that he shouldn't eat too much bread, but I doubt a little bread does him any harm (evidently no noticeable harm at the moment - he's been with me a week and a half) - and most adult birds will eat some bread.

I am careful to not let the bread be more than a minor part of his diet - just enough to carry enough water to satisfy me that he's fully hydrated, and a bit of variety in what he gets to eat.

[FB.]

Some pictures below,taken a few minutes ago at dusk:

1 & 2: trying to train him to scrabble around in a mug of soil/compost for worms.

3: just about to try the flutter test.

[Two_Sheds]

The wet bread and wet biscuit was mainly a carrier for water,

I suspect that he shouldn't eat too much bread

I always soak sultanas in water before feeding: food & water in one gulp. If they fill up on bread, they won't eat the higher-nutrition foods, and won't get all the goodness they need

The RSPB: Advice: Household scraps

the RSPB don't like it


He is a gorgeous wee chap, and you've done a fab job with him: he seems to know what the flapping training is for

[FB.]

More pictures - taken this morning:

1: sitting on his tray of compost which contains a couple of dozen small and medium worms (to encourage him to find them himself). Also visible is the lid of a jar with some chopped cherries and biscuit crumbs.

2: sitting in the sun.

3&4: preening.

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[FB.]

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Just turned around (he's behind me) and saw him sunbathing:


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[veggiechicken]

Looks like he's packing for his holidays! He's coming on so well, FB - well done

[FB.]

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Still likes to be fed by hand.

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[FB.]

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Sitting on my upturned shoes, looking out the patio door (various birds around - doves, house martins, sparrows, blackbirds etc) and also pecking at the soil stuck in the tread of my shoes.

I had to get his attention (he was looking away from the camera) and you can see the "What do you want now?" expression.

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