Please, DON’T feed the (baby) birds!

This past week a call came in from a concerned couple who’d found a dead male bluebird wedged sideways in his nest box, blocking the entry. Based on their description, it appeared the male had been protecting his nestlings from some sort of attack.  But his body blocked the female, if she was still alive, from getting to her babies and because this wasn’t a box that opened, the couple had to pry one side of the box roof off to remove the carcass. It was 2pm when all this occurred, they said…

…And for the next SIX hours, the nestling bluebirds, who’d been without food for God knows how long, were fed moistened cat food, before LWR was contacted. Now, understand, moistened high-quality cat food isn’t the worst emergency diet, for a few hours, until baby birds can be gotten to a rehabber, BUT… there are certain protocols that MUST be followed to ensure the babies have the best chance at survival. First, they must be warm before being fed; second, they must be hydrated before being fed. Hydration is something that should ONLY be done on the advice and instruction of a licensed bird rehabber, as if it’s done improperly, the birds can get fluid in their lungs and literally drown to death without even being in water; at best, they end up with aspiration pneumonia and require medication for that. Also, cat food causes diarrhea, which can compromise already-fragile babies and create an unhealthy mess as the poor birds poop all over themselves and their siblings. The higher-quality cat foods cause fewer problems, but most people use whatever they have on hand or can get easily, which frequently isn’t one of the better brands.

Because I didn’t know how many feedings these precious birds had missed before being found, and because they were not in good shape on intake—despite the rescuers’ placing a rice sock in with them, they were still chilled and damp, plus we had rampant diarrhea going on from the cat food—I worked until 2:00 the next morning trying to stabilize them. I thought we’d rounded the corner and they had a chance, but within the next few hours, every single one of them died.
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Below are comparison photos of healthy bluebird nestlings in their box, at 4 days, and the poor babies who didn’t make it, who were about 4 days old, as well, based on their development.

The takeaway for you the readers? When you find orphaned/unnested baby birds, DO NOT feed them until you talk with a licensed rehabber. And contact that rehabber ASAP—ideally within minutes of finding the birds, not hours later. The lives of those babies depend on their prompt delivery to a licensed individual.
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Early last week, an adult male great horned owl was pulled from a barbed wire fence. Surprisingly, nothing felt broken to me and the flesh, while raw, wasn’t badly damaged. Still, x-rays were required to confirm no fractures, so off to Smalley’s we headed…

​Vet Richie Hatcher agreed nothing felt broken and sure enough, the x-ray showed nothing. Pleased, Richie and I discussed the treatment plan for the raw skin and were sure the owl would be releasable in a few weeks. 

​He died that night. We still have no clue why, as the only injury we could find was to the wing, and he was being treated for that. Apparently there were other underlying issues or perhaps internal bleeding, although his poop looked normal, he was well-fleshed and his mouth and throat were clear.

​The week wasn’t total gloom and doom, though. Both red-tailed hawks are now in the raptor flight. The younger male is eating normally again and flying quite well. He’s looking at release pretty soon.

​The female, while showing improvement, still favors her left wing a bit, so she’s gonna be a guest at LWR for a bit longer. She’s also quite an aggressive lady—likes to give massive threat displays, which are absolutely gorgeous.

​While the two hawks have pretty much agreed to remain at opposite ends of the flight most of the time, they’re not aggressive to each other and will sometimes perch near one another.

​The young great horned owl decided, upon his second go-round in the rehab bathroom, that room to stretch his wings was actually kinda nice and has been busily doing just that. As soon as the red-tails have been released, it’ll be his turn in the raptor flight, where he’ll remain until he passes the live prey test.

​And while this cat-attacked cedar waxwing was lucky that he was brought to LWR in time for the meds to work, until we get x-rays Monday we won’t know for sure whether the wing is broken. I don’t think so, but there was a lot of swelling on intake and subsequent scabbing of the puncture wounds makes it difficult to say with certainty without x-rays.

And let me say my blood boiled when he was brought to me and his rescuer admitted, “I didn’t want to leave him out for the cats to get; we have lots of cats and they bring me birds all the time.”

REALLY??? Then here’s a novel idea: KEEP YOUR CATS INSIDE!!! Folks, honestly, how many times does it bear repeating before it sinks in that cats AND wildlife are safer when the cats are INDOORS???

This handsome fellow is eating well, he’s alert, and he lets me know he’s unhappy about oral and topical meds for his cat-inflicted wound. But if the x-rays show a wing fracture and it’s unfixable, which is likely given the source of the injury, he’ll have to be euthanized—all because some irresponsible soul lets cats roam freely outdoors and blithely shrugs off their depredation.

So forgive me if I seem a little testy this week. I don’t like losing baby birds when a prompt call to a rehabber could have probably prevented their deaths, and I don’t like facing the very real possibility of putting down an otherwise healthy bird because of someone else’s lack of concern for our native wildlife.