Baby Blackbird - did I do the right thing?

[rustylady]

He or she looks healthy - well done you.

[FB.]

I think he's just about at the age where he'd normally be preparing to leave the nest.

When he first arrived he couldn't really stand up on his own, let alone walk or fly.

Now he is spending a few minutes each day wandering around (including being allowed some time out of the cage *after* we've seen him poop a few minutes after being fed ).
He tends to walk and hop around for about ten minutes after feeding then nods off standing in the middle of the floor - at which point I put him back in the cage so that we don't forget about him and accidentally step on him or lose track of him if he wanders off.

He looks more like a small brown quail at the moment - long legs, short wings and no tail.

When he first came he needed food carefully placing at the back of his mouth - about half of what we prepared we wasted/spilt/dropped through the fiddly task of feeding. But now he's much more in charge of the feeding and food doesn't need careful placing. He's also taking much larger pieces, including being able to swallow damp rather than soggy food. Occasionally in the last 24hours I've been able to encourage him to take a few pieces from me by pecking, rather than me put it in his beak - although he still very much needs to be fed by us.

[FB.]

-
Feeding time a few minutes ago.

Top picture: half a worm.
Bottom picture: a piece of damp biscuit.

-

[Nicos]

Looking good!

Have you tried that thing I mentioned with him/her on your finger? You'll soon get an idea of how near he is to fledging- it only takes a few days.

He'll also need to be able to jump up and down perches/branches- have you anything taller he can go in- perhaps borrowed from a friend??

[FB.]

Looking good!

Have you tried that thing I mentioned with him/her on your finger? You'll soon get an idea of how near he is to fledging- it only takes a few days.

He'll also need to be able to jump up and down perches/branches- have you anything taller he can go in- perhaps borrowed from a friend??

I'll try the finger test later or tomorrow if he wants to come out of his cage after his evening feed. My guess is that he's not quite ready to flutter but that it'll only be a day or two before he does.
When he's out of his cage and mooching around the floor he sometimes tries to flutter/jump onto objects but can't manage to get onto anything more than about four or five inches high at the moment.

I intend to let him out of the cage as much as possible for exercise, but we have a taller ex-budgerigar wire cage which my wife brought back from her parents yesterday.
When first brought home he was put into some hay in a large, deep plant pot!
The pet transport box/cage that he's in at the moment just happened to be in our loft, unused for several years, and he progressed into it a few days ago which was to give him more walking space when he began to stand up and stagger around.

[Two_Sheds]

Scrambled eggs are great source of protein

My parrot eats a bit of scrambled egg, some eat a bit of tuna or chicken but mine's a vegetarian like her mom.


For insectivorous birds like the thrushes, cat food is probably best, it's what's recommended for rescued hedgehogs, being high in protein (there's more cereal than meat in most dog foods)

I just found this: "Young, not fully feathered [blackbirds]:
Don’t try feeding chopped worms or large chunks of food to young birds as it can suffocate them.
NEVER put drops of water into a bird's beak; it will kill them if it enters the air sacs. ...Always touch drops of liquid to the side of the beak, one by one ...and PLEASE! NEVER FEED THEM MILK OR BREAD"

common problems birds


FB, your baby looks good, and seeing as he's survived a week already, I think you're onto a winner. "my" blackbirds on the plot feed from my hand (sultanas) when they're hungry with babies to feed, but soon revert to wildness when there's more natural food around. I don't think you need to worry about imprinting

[FB.]

From Two Sheds' link:

Blackbird / Thrush / Starling

May have left the nest too soon and not be strong enough to fly up to a safe perch (a).
These birds spend a lot of time on the ground as they feed on worms, snails and bugs; try and see if it is feeding itself (b) by offering a small pot of water and some chopped up cat food or soaked cat biscuits, sultanas or currants on a saucer.
Make sure it can escape a predator by trying to catch it (c). If it can flutter up a few feet, try leaning a thin branch up against a tree or shrub to make a temporary ladder for it to climb to safety.
If it looks unwell or is in danger from cats (d), catch it and take to a rescue centre in a darkened box.
If you can catch a bird without too much trouble it is usually in need of help (e).

a.
It was (and still is) unable to fly - even today it can only jump/flutter a few inches.

b.
It was unable to feed itself - all food had to be carefully placed into its mouth; it made no attempt (until yesterday and today) to pick food up by itself.

c
It couldn't escape a predator because it couldn't escape me; a cat would have been able to catch it even more easily than me.

d.
It didn't look unwell, but was in imminent danger from the road a few feet away, and was potentially in danger at some point from several cats, magpies and other threats known to live nearby.

e.
It didn't even try to move as I went to pick it up; no fluttering, no attempt to escape - it just squeaked. While walking about half a mile home with it, it wriggled a bit a couple of times but was nowhere near managing to escape - and I was only holding it loosely in one hand!

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So it seems highly likely that it would have died (I did earlier say I reckoned its chances at less than 10%).

But it still leaves uncertainty as to what was the right thing to do, and I'm still not sure what the right answer was (although those who voted seem to mostly think it was right).

But consider this:
For every tin of cat food fed to the blackbird (and why I am reluctant to do so), some other animal has been killed to produce that tin of food. By saving the blackbird I have encouraged the death of another animal (and killed lots of bugs/insects - including "garden-friendly" worms).

[veggiechicken]

For me, there is no right or wrong answer. We take a decision based on our assessment of the situation and our capacity to do something to help.
I hope the little Munchkin thrives and returns to the wild. Your commitment shines through FB - well done

[Kirk]

Difficult to say. I would not be too concerned about it being used to humans, I have blackbirds that bring their you to my garden and then wait for me to supply food. Sort of "This is a human, it supply's food, and it doesn't try to eat you either."

The main concerns would be that it needs to learn what food is and looks like. One youngster here would sit amongst a pile of food waitng for mum to come back and feed it. The point being it was surrounded by food, just it didn't recognise it as such. That is what the one you have rescued will not have knowledge of, at least initially.

[FB.]

When they get flight feathers we were encouraged to put them on an index finger and suddenly drop the hand about a foot to encourage it to flap it's wings- for balance and strength.

I tried the test several times a short while ago and he half-heartedly flutters his wings about half the time.

During the test he got very agitated with some squawking, a grumpy look and when put back in his cage he made an angry pecking and fluttering attack at the bell-and-mirror hanging from the ceiling.

[Nicos]

Well- that's a start- little and often each day and he'll soon be taking off!

Sounds like he had a good adrenalin rush there!

Sounds like you're doing a grand job FB- well done

[FB.]

I managed to find a few almost-ripe cherries on a tree nearby.
If I hold the cherry by the stalk just in front of the cage he goes mad trying to get it - he'd probably try to swallow it whole if I let him! (I quarter cherries for him).
I think it must be the bright yellow and red colour that gets his attention.

I also managed to get him to (clumsily) pick up half a medium-sized worm from the palm of my hand. It took him a while to get the worm the right way in his beak to swallow (and he dropped it a couple of times but picked it up himself a few moments later) but he eventually managed to eat it.

I reckon very soon he'll be ready for a few pieces of food to be left on a dish in his cage, and perhaps the tub of compost with some worms for him to scrabble around in - as suggested in an earlier posting.
Later I'll see what containers I can find.

[FB.]

Yep - chopped cherries (cut into pea-sized pieces) are doing wonders for encouraging him to pick up objects and attempt to eat for himself.
I think it's the bright yellows and reds that really get his attention.

Also medium-sized worm halves which are still wriggling get his attention too, and he'll peck at them; eventually managing to juggle it the right way in his beak - sometimes dropping it an having another go.

So: small moving objects and brightly coloured objects seem to be helping his shift towards self-sufficiency.

[Creemteez]

FB, you're my total hero! I have rescued a couple of injured/pre-fledged birds in my time, but they have always died on me and broken my heart in the process. Well done for getting Munchkin as far as you have! Really rooting for the day you return him to the wild. xx

[Two_Sheds]

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?