Pierre
05-27-2011, 07:42 PM
I recently have had a couple of rescues. The second one I need some help with, so please keep reading.
First rescue; I was looking out my back door towards Grayson's cage near dusk the other night. What should come waddling by but a tiny tiny baby field mouse. Walks right in the open and has obvious ataxia. Thinking all the things we would, I know he needs help. Scoop him up. A few minutes later, I see a second one sitting on the top of one of my fence pickets. Swinging in the open. Sheesh. A sibling. Scoop him up too.
They now appear to be about 3weeks old, fully furred and eyes open. Tiny though!! They just barely cover a quarter! Well after food and water and rest these past few days, they will soon ready for release. No more ataxia or weird behavior. Pretty cute little ones!
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Second rescue happened this afternoon. I was out checking on the landscaping and Grayson in my back yard when I heard crows screaming in my caddy-corner neighbor's back yard. Looking over I see two adult crows dive-bombing towards my neighbor's Westie, Blizzard. Uh oh. I know what that means... My neighbor Mike heard the ruckus and came out to get Blizzard. I yelled to him if he could see the fledgling and he said yes. I asked if it looked hurt. He said it looked like the wing was bitten off. Uggh. I yelled I'd be right over. Due to fences, I had to go around to the back of my block to get into his yard, so a little time had passed. Mike no longer knew where the baby was [lots of landscaping] but he told me what he thought was a wing was actually a leaf. :shakehead :rotfl Well, that was good news anyway. But now the baby was hiding and I wanted to check if it was injured. I finally found the baby crow hiding in a corner. I scooped him up, he yelled--good sign--and the parents yelled at me, back and forth, LOL. I got his head covered and looked him over as best I could, lifting his down and between feathers. Miraculously, I saw absolutely no punctures or wounds at all. I watched him in a little cage Mike brought out, and he seemed to walk and flap wings fine too. I figured the best thing I could do for him was take him to my yard [stones throw--very close] where there are no vermin-killing dogs and get him reunited with his parents. Wheeling him on a Radio Flyer wagon in a covered dog crate, LOL, I got him back to my back yard quickly. I checked him again, and put him in my holly tree-which has lots of nice size branches to hop around on, and lots of leaf cover. The parents know where he is, I made sure. He is sitting where I left him still.
Here's my question. I haven't seen the parents come to him at all in the last few hours since this happened. They yell if I walk out there, and are in the big maples and oaks around the holly, so I know they know he's there, but they haven't come to feed him or get close. :thinking I know this is the general life of a fledgling, but don't the parents still have to feed the babies quite often? The reason I am concerned is that something like this happened a couple yrs ago with a blue jay fledgling [sans the dog part and me moving him]. The parents knew he was there, but concentrated on their stronger fledgling babies, didn't feed this baby, and by the time I finally intervened [at the advice of the wildlife center], he was too weak and died. :(
So, how can I be sure the baby is going to be ok overnight??? Any advice?
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First rescue; I was looking out my back door towards Grayson's cage near dusk the other night. What should come waddling by but a tiny tiny baby field mouse. Walks right in the open and has obvious ataxia. Thinking all the things we would, I know he needs help. Scoop him up. A few minutes later, I see a second one sitting on the top of one of my fence pickets. Swinging in the open. Sheesh. A sibling. Scoop him up too.
They now appear to be about 3weeks old, fully furred and eyes open. Tiny though!! They just barely cover a quarter! Well after food and water and rest these past few days, they will soon ready for release. No more ataxia or weird behavior. Pretty cute little ones!
140823
140824
140825
Second rescue happened this afternoon. I was out checking on the landscaping and Grayson in my back yard when I heard crows screaming in my caddy-corner neighbor's back yard. Looking over I see two adult crows dive-bombing towards my neighbor's Westie, Blizzard. Uh oh. I know what that means... My neighbor Mike heard the ruckus and came out to get Blizzard. I yelled to him if he could see the fledgling and he said yes. I asked if it looked hurt. He said it looked like the wing was bitten off. Uggh. I yelled I'd be right over. Due to fences, I had to go around to the back of my block to get into his yard, so a little time had passed. Mike no longer knew where the baby was [lots of landscaping] but he told me what he thought was a wing was actually a leaf. :shakehead :rotfl Well, that was good news anyway. But now the baby was hiding and I wanted to check if it was injured. I finally found the baby crow hiding in a corner. I scooped him up, he yelled--good sign--and the parents yelled at me, back and forth, LOL. I got his head covered and looked him over as best I could, lifting his down and between feathers. Miraculously, I saw absolutely no punctures or wounds at all. I watched him in a little cage Mike brought out, and he seemed to walk and flap wings fine too. I figured the best thing I could do for him was take him to my yard [stones throw--very close] where there are no vermin-killing dogs and get him reunited with his parents. Wheeling him on a Radio Flyer wagon in a covered dog crate, LOL, I got him back to my back yard quickly. I checked him again, and put him in my holly tree-which has lots of nice size branches to hop around on, and lots of leaf cover. The parents know where he is, I made sure. He is sitting where I left him still.
Here's my question. I haven't seen the parents come to him at all in the last few hours since this happened. They yell if I walk out there, and are in the big maples and oaks around the holly, so I know they know he's there, but they haven't come to feed him or get close. :thinking I know this is the general life of a fledgling, but don't the parents still have to feed the babies quite often? The reason I am concerned is that something like this happened a couple yrs ago with a blue jay fledgling [sans the dog part and me moving him]. The parents knew he was there, but concentrated on their stronger fledgling babies, didn't feed this baby, and by the time I finally intervened [at the advice of the wildlife center], he was too weak and died. :(
So, how can I be sure the baby is going to be ok overnight??? Any advice?
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