Posted on 06/08/2021 2:03:28 PM PDT by Bill of Rights FIRST
How are your birdhouse and birdnest happenings doing this year? Birds with rent free and tax free homes thanks to you! ;)
In the Springtime, you just have to walk around and look carefully, and you’ll find one down somewhere - at least around here.
There are lots of websites where rehabbers and vets teach you how to care for a baby.
(Please note that the only birds in the US that one is permitted to take and keep without some kind of license are starlings, house sparrows, and common pigeons. These are non-native, invasive species, and aren’t ‘regulated’ as native birds are. So, before you take anything, do your best to know what species it is. And if you see a baby bird on the ground, don’t bother it until you wait and see if a parent may actually be attending it - usually there’s a parent around, and in that case, it’s best to leave it alone.)
I would definitely NOT try a pigeon that hasn’t been ‘weaned’ as my first rescue - feeding them is very different from feeding other babies, and it’s easy to kill them.
I had a wild bird once that I had successfully raised after a cat attacked the nest and injured it.
Bird thrived despite what seemed to be a mild neurological problem, and lived for years. One hot day I left a window open when I went to work, so it would have some fresh air.
While I was away, a bad storm and cold wind came up, and bird was sick when I came home, died the next day. (Cold wind is very bad for domesticated, indoor birds.)
You live and make mistakes. If you learn from your mistakes, you don’t make them again.
What if you find a permanently injured (broken leg, etc.) bird that is not of the three species you mentioned?
I will take any breed of bird to rescue. I would not leave it outside injured, etc., no matter what the “law” says. ;)
Call up a licensed rehabber. There’s usually one not too far away, no matter where you are.
I did that once. She gave me advice on care for the critter, told me that as long as I was working under her auspices, I was ‘covered’.
(I wouldn’t try this with something super-protected, though. And there are a lot of injuries/illnesses that the average person can’t manage. It’s best, then, to take them to a rehab place.)
I think what matters most in the instance is the welfare of the creature - not your proud assertion of your rights.
There’s nothing wrong with taking a protected bird and contacting a rehabber. Unless you are a qualified avian vet, you may need help to do right by the bird.
Yes, definitely the ones I can’t manage. :)
And not a bald eagle or such or other bird of prey. I would definitely send those to the specialists for any problem.
I am talking about songbirds that I could rescue.
Oh, definitely! I just wouldn’t want them to release a bird with a permanently broken leg, etc. into the wild.
Someone once brought me a baby pigeon with a badly splayed leg. Sometimes, if the bird is very young and the problem is mild - and you are experienced and knowledgeable - you can remedy this. But often, you can’t.
This one needed amputation, so I took it to a vet. I wouldn’t have had the tools and resources to remove the leg under anesthesia and understand everything involved in recovery.
As you seem to understand, my argument is with people who get all ‘touchy-feely’ when they see a suffering animal, and think they can somehow ‘help’ it, when what the animal needs is immediate professional care.
In most areas, any vet can put you immediately in touch with someone who can help. They know all the rehab resources, because people often contact them about wildlife, or even bring the animals to them.
That’s great, thanks!
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