Bird Emergency!

[Rotsuoy]

A pair of Eastern Phoebes (a type of flycatcher) have been nesting on our front porch for the past several springs and I was so excited when I saw them tending to the nest again. Unfortunately, one of them turned up this morning when I came home because I was late for my first class, and it's wing was missing some of the flight feathers and it's beak and wing were speckled with blood. We cleaned it's wing and it looked like the digits of the wing might be damaged, however, the Ulna, the Radius the metacarpals, and the carpals are all still in tact. She's one hell of a fighter too. Even now she chirps for her mate, bites at me when I tried to take pictures of her and clawed my hand pretty well when I first tried to pick her up. So far I've just left her alone in a very short cage in hopes she won't use her wings for anything. When I leave her alone and don't mess with her she sits still and tries to pick at the wing.

If I knew how to care for her I'd gladly do so at any cost to myself, my sleep, and my school time. I keep seeing her mate out in the light showers of rain calling for her and wondering were she is, so I really want to do what I can for her. Please, please, if anyone has any information I'd really like to know.

http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj192/RotsuoyWolfen/S7302486.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj192/RotsuoyWolfen/S7302487.jpg
http://i272.photobucket.com/albums/jj192/RotsuoyWolfen/S7302488.jpg

I'm sorry the pictures are so blurry, but it was hard to take a picture of her when she was moving so much.

[island rehabber]

I just PM'd psychobird, a rehabber here with lots of bird experience & knowledge. Hopefully she'll be here soon!
In the meantime, Dark Warm & Quiet is always a good rule of thumb with distressed wildlife.

[4skwerlz]

Bless your heart for helping this bird. Warm, dark, and quiet is the key, as IR said. She might just need time to heal. But someone with bird experience will be here shortly.
:grouphug

[Mrs Skul]

:wave123 Hi RotSoey Do you have any antibiotics? Sulfatrim Is what I have used in the past for my wild birds. If a cat :shakehead Got a hold of her, she needs to be on ANTIBIOTIC QUICK! Cat bites are deadly to any wild animal they bite. You are probably formalir with the food she eats. So put some food and water inside the cage with her. I know she needs a drink right about now. What part of Tx. are you in. I live near Houston. I know Psychobird is a wonderful Bird Rehabber. I praying for your little feathered friends, and you. Good luck.

[squirrelsrule&bunniestoo]

Awww, poor thing! Does she have a nest with babies already? The dad should be able to provide for babies, but you might also want to take some extra mealworms out to them if there is a nest, just to make sure they get enough to eat.

As for the mom, if it isn't broken it should heal up in time. It will probably take a while though. I agree, antibiotics are probably needed and sulfa-trim is a good choice. For diet, they will eat mealworms, wax worms, bill jac moist dog food (or soaked cat food) and small pieces of grape. They are insect eaters, so he will go through a LOT of mealworm or wax worms. Some pet stores also sell dried bugs, that would be a good choice too. Then sprinkle a little calcium (NOT with vitamin D added, you want just plain calcium) on the food.

Good luck with the little guy, hopefully she is feeling better real soon and can get back out there with her mate.

[psychobird]

oh poor little bird, if you can get her to a rehabber to make sure that wing isn't broken because wrapping it is important in the first 48 and the sooner the better for a break.
and since you don't know how she got her injury you have to assume it was a cat and she needs anti biotics fast also.
till then everybody is right about the bugs and soaked dog or cat food, you can also try giving her little bits of scrambled egg, and i give just about everybody blueberries, i buy the frozen wild ones because they are little and perfect bite size pieces.
and yes don't forget the mate, if they have eggs or babies he might not be able to raise them on his own without extra food, he may not be willing to leave the nest to feed himself even.
soo sad that he's out there on his own.
if you take her to a rehabber let them know you will come and get her for release if they are able to make better so she can be reunited with her mate.
i would like to see how she holds her injured wing when resting, does it sit exactly like the other

[psychobird]

if your going to care for her on your own you may want to order some mealworms from natures way or grubco, 500 mealworms from pet co with probably only last a few days.
try to get a pic of that wing for us so we can decide if we should wrap it, keep her in a small container for now so she won't use it very much

[Tomo]

You can also contact member BabyBella, she's great with birds. Good luck! :)

[Rotsuoy]

I regret to inform you all, but the little lady departed this morning some time between seven and nine. My only conclusion is that she had some internal injuries that I was unaware of, because she had hemorrhaging like bleeding all over the towel she was nesting on in the cage. She will be greatly missed, no doubt, and by many. Her mate can be seen even now flying from the back porch to the front were the nest is, and every now and then he'll look into the nest as if expecting her to be there. I spent most of the night looking for someone to either tell me what I could do or take her from me so when I heard her chirruping this morning around six I didn't get out of bed. I guess I should have came back to the squirrel board. My room stays about seventy because of the tarantula, so I know she couldn't have gotten cold last night, so I guess I was correct to assume that her feathers were only the tip of the ice berg and more than her wing was banged up when the cats got a hold of her. I guess I should have known that any injured animal I find close to the house like that was wounded by the cats. This same thing has happened before with rabbits and moles.

Thank you for all of your comments, and hopfully, I've learned from this and it won't keep me torn up and upset. I only wish I could have done more.

As for the nest, I'm sure the eggs havn't hatched if she alread laid some there, but if there is anything at all in it, I know the father will take care of them. I've seen him on the nest in previous summers. There was once a spring like this but with one of the babies. One wing was never fully developed, and his brothers and sisters would fly around him chirrupping at him as if they couldn't understand why he wouldn't fly with them. When we scooped him up to place him in a cage (probably the same one I used for momma last night, now that I think about it) we left the cage on the front porch so we could try to figure out what to do with him. In the end a cat turned over the cage and tore him up pretty bad.

Momma will be missed. I just hope her mate isn't mad at us too badly, and that if he does mate again he'll bring his female back to nest there so we can watch the babies take off every spring.

[Rotsuoy]

oh poor little bird, if you can get her to a rehabber to make sure that wing isn't broken because wrapping it is important in the first 48 and the sooner the better for a break.
and since you don't know how she got her injury you have to assume it was a cat and she needs anti biotics fast also.
till then everybody is right about the bugs and soaked dog or cat food, you can also try giving her little bits of scrambled egg, and i give just about everybody blueberries, i buy the frozen wild ones because they are little and perfect bite size pieces.
and yes don't forget the mate, if they have eggs or babies he might not be able to raise them on his own without extra food, he may not be willing to leave the nest to feed himself even.
soo sad that he's out there on his own.
if you take her to a rehabber let them know you will come and get her for release if they are able to make better so she can be reunited with her mate.
i would like to see how she holds her injured wing when resting, does it sit exactly like the other

I put neosporin on her wing with a cotton swab as much as she would let me do so because someone suggested it on another site last night. I gave her water in a very shallow dish, but she never touched it. I guess she got mad because I had to move the towel she was laying on over in order to put the dish in there. I was also hoping that I wouldn't have to feed her if I wasn't keeping her; I had hopped to find a vet or rehabber to take her to this morning.

By the way, when she sat, she would hold the wing up close to her, a lot like the other, but many of the feathers were bent. What does that tell you?

[prncsbabs1]

I am sorry, just saw the post that she didn't make it. Sorry for your loss.

[psychobird]

oh no i'm so sorry she didn't make it, clearly she was mortally injured and it could not be seen.
maybe you can ask the neighbors to think about keeping the cat in, it's such a shame how our wild bird population is declining and cats are a huge reason for it.
maybe they will find empathy in themselves on how sad the poor mate left behind is, birds mate for life, he is devastated