The Baby Birds

As I mentioned before, I've started volunteering at Wildlife Care Center. One of the Center's responsibilities is to rescue orphaned or injured animals, rehabilitate them, and release them back into the wild. When I first started there I was doing general animal care, administrative work, and pick-ups. Animal care includes preparing food and cleaning cages. Pick-ups include picking up injured animals when the rescuer is unable to drive them to the Center for treatment.

But for the last four weeks I've been helping in the nursery. It's baby season. And it is amazing how many babies are brought in to our Center for care. Song birds, shore birds, oppossums, raccoons, you name it.

So far, I've been helping with the baby songbirds. We have a lot of European Starlings (probably the messiest - but considering how much they can eat, it's no wonder they poop so much); Grackles, both Common and Boat-tailed (these guys are very sensitive and seem to be the most likely to die - which surprises me a little since they're so brazen at the outdoor cafes); Blue Jays (gorgeous, puffy, and they make this heart-warming trilling sound when being fed); and Mocking Birds (they have attitudes even as babies which makes them so endearing). We have an occassional Oriole, House Sparrows, and just the other day a Woodpecker.

These are the ones that are to be hand-fed using a hemostat (elongated tweezer-type things). Oh, we feed them fruit, crickets, mealy worms, and even dog food. The first day, I was so nervous my hands shook continuously, making it even harder to get the food on the tip of the hemostat down the throat of a baby bird the size of your thumb. It's a good thing their beaks are the biggest thing on them at this age.

Here's the daily routine: the babies are supposed to be fed every hour. But here's the problem - sometimes it takes longer than an hour to get through the first round! I'm getting faster, but I think my first day it took an hour and a half. Then when you have to clean their bins, it takes even longer. So, by the time you start over, they're all peeping and squawking and jumping up and down for more food again. I'm not sure exactly how many birds we have on any given day because the number keeps growing right now. The goal is to feed the little guys until they stop opening their mouths or fall asleep, then you move on to the next group. It depends on their size and which type of bird as to how long that may take. The thumb-sized birds usually only take a bite or two before being satiated. Fist-sized Starlings are bottomless and greedy. They'll step on eachother and do anything to get more food. Blue Jays and Mockingbirds seem to prefer being out of their container before taking food. That means that when you open their bin, they all try to fly out - straight at you. I might have one or two on my leg (when I'm kneeling on the floor), one on my hand, and one on the edge of the bin while I'm trying to feed them. The key is to read their body language so they don't fly away when they've had enough to eat and before you return them to their container.

We have "flyers" everyday. One day I think we had five birds flying around the room at one time. The bird-nursery isn't very large (it's in one-third of a mobile trailer), so 5 birds and 4 people running around in the chase is quite amusing.

Well, ok for now. I'll share more stories in the future.