Who needs this? Do I need this? I wouldn’t have thought so but apparently there is some almighty deity out there who thinks I need a little death in my life.
Huh? Oh…
See we have a friend who found a bird in her garage today. Kind of a messed up bird, evidently. Seems to have been blown around a bit and fell out of its tree and is unable to fly. She was keeping it in a box but her curious kid got to it, was playing with it, and dropped it. Now it’s bleeding (from under a wing? beak? eyeball?) and seems disinclined to call a cab for a ride home…ok, just confirmed, it’s bleeding from its wing tip. Not sure what model of bird, but it’s got feathers and it’s blue. It can flap its poor little wings, but can’t fly. General consensus is that it is a member of “tweetius specie expendabilia” but we’re really not sure what we should do with it. Can we take it to a vet (we don’t really wanna pay for the thing)? Or do we feed it to a dog or cat? What can we do with an injured wild animal?
The honest answer is that you probably can’t do much. Around half of all birds fail to survive each year, and this looks to be one of those.
You can try keeping the bird warm and dry and seeing if it will eat. It would greatly help to determine its species, as that would give a clue as to what it might eat. Such things as mealworms might be a good general guess. Perhaps there’s a local bird rehabilitation outfit that could guide you.
If it gains strength it might eventually be able to fly and fend for itself. But don’t count on this.
There are message boards dedicated to rescuing and raising birds that might be a little more focused on that sort of thing.
A friend of mine is a regular on starlingtalk.com (she raises European Starlings) and I believe they have links to other bird pages. But they might be of some help, even if your bird is not a Starling.
A human can nurse a bird back to health and turn it back loose in the wild if it’s done quickly and the bird hasn’t imprinted on you (think cartoon ducklings following you around going “Mama, mama, mama”).
Broken wing + un-fully-fledged bird = a meeting with St.Peter, or whoever your deity is.
Rarely do these survive.
We had an unfledged Barred Owl fall out of a tree on our road. we stopped traffic, and let nature take its course. Last we saw…it has climbed up the side of the huge cedar it was in, and back into it’s nest.
Please contact a wildlife rehabilitator in your area for (1) advice, and (2) help. You can usually get contact info from your state game agency.
Wildlife rehabilitators have the necessary training and the necessary permits (there’s a good bit of legal-eze involved with possession of wildlife) for accepting and caring for animals (including birds) that require help. No charge is usually allowed (a condition of permitting in most states) so the help will be free. A donation though, within your own comfort level, would be gratefully accepted, I’m sure.
This bird may or may not be beyond help. A rehabber can make that determination. And, if necessary, can also end the creature’s suffering.
Most veterinarians have little or no training in wildlife. They also may have concerns regarding parasites and diseases possibly transmitted by wildlife (again including birds) brought to their clinic. So most vets appreciate not being burdened with un-owned wild creatures. (Some vets though are actively involved with wildlife rehabilitation. The caveat is that you probably can’t guess which group any vet randomly chosen from the phone book may fit into.)
Our web site (two clicks-- it’s in my profile) has links to help you search for rehabilitators in the US.
It’s not entirely clear whether the bird can’t fly because it is an adult with a broken or damaged wing or a fledgling that is not yet able to fly (or maybe a fledgling that also has a damaged wing). The prognosis would be best in the first case (although the bird may not be capable of being released into the wild) and, as you suggest, pretty poor in the case of a fledgling with a broken wing.
I would agree that the best course will be to take the bird to a wildlife rehabilitator. It might also be pointed out that it is technically illegal to keep most native wild birds in captivity without a license.
If the bird is blue, it is most likely a Blue Jay, though it is possible it could be a Bluebird or something else.
It is also worth pointing out that it may be normal for young birds to leave the nest before they are fully capable of flying. According to This site where Mrs. Doubt used to work, many of the “rescued” young birds brought to rehabilitation centers might have been fine left to themselves. When they are brought to a center they sap resources from birds that are truly in need of help.
It’s a blue jay. So I guess I don’t have to worry about starving it–I was not looking forward to chomping up grasshoppers and spitting them into his greedy little beak. And it’s only partly fledged–still has down on his chest & shoulders. Whether or not it should have been meddled with, it most certainly has now.
Happy Happy. Joy Joy.