Baby birds

Today I came home and opened my front door. We've had a bird living with a nest on our porch and every spring she has babies in the nest on our porch. Well as soon as I opened the door the mom flew into my house and before I could even turn around my wife's cat killed her.

I went outside and could hear babies on the nest. I called around to see if there was any group that could take them nd care for them, the only place that takes wildlife in my area is the Humane Society (I am not a fan of the HS by any means).

They told me I could drop them off and they can see what they can do. The guy told me

If they are Starlings they wouldn't be able to care for them? I know nothing about birds, can anyone identify these babies? They are the cutest little babies, I'm thinking they must only be a few days old? Fell so bad for them, they are constantly opening their mouths and chirping :(

http://img.tapatalk.com/4428fb55-4d44-4c13.jpg

Sorry forgot to mention, I live in Michigan north of Detroit. Not familiar with what type of birds are in my area

No idea what they are. Poor little things. They won't help starlings because they are invasive.

If you are really determined to help, I can teach you to handfeed them, but be aware it is hard, time consuming, and no guarantee they will live. It all depends on how devoted you want to be. You'll be playing mommy bird about every two hours pretty much around the clock for a few weeks. And they are messy.

You can PM me if you want to try, just be prepared for a difficult journey.

Gale

A picture of the deceased parent may help identifying them faster. I don't recognize the eggs but somebody might.

Found this that might help you with identification:

http://www.sialis.org/images/nestegg...ests/index.htm

If they are Starlings no rehabber will take them but they are used in training rehabbers sometimes. Starlings are an introduced and invasive species but since they are not protected song birds or raptors you can keep them as pets. It's legal federally unless your area has a law against keeping wild birds.

They are incredibly funny and intelligent. They make great pets. Each bird is different but it's easy to hand feed them. Just time consuming. If you google hand feeding baby starlings you should easily find the info.

They need to be fed every couple hours at such a young age.


<---Signature--->
Snakes, Jeeps, Dragons, Nature, & Knives.. Makes my world go-round!

Here are some links. It's already been a long time since they've eaten so you better get some food in them if you're wanting to keep them or release them later.

http://www.starlingtalk.com/babycare.htm

http://www.starlingcentral.net/keeping_a_starling.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ0QF...e_gdata_player




<---Signature--->
Snakes, Jeeps, Dragons, Nature, & Knives.. Makes my world go-round!

Wow thanks everyone for your input, so I guess if these are starlings the HD will most likely just put them down? I really would like to help the babies, but I work during the day so can't feed them every 2 hours. If anyone would like to guide me I am more than will to do what I can, I would hate for these babies to suffer in any way...

Thank you for the links checking them out now really appreciate it

If it was one of the parents that flew into your home then you should know what type of bird it is and have a better idea than we would. Pics are usually helpful as well,.. other than that they look like common house finch eggs. Their feather colors vary depending on the region, more so for the males but the females are usually just brown and starling eggs are blue.

We use to catch fledglings when I was younger or go around shaking them out of street sign posts. We called them chi chi birds.

They have baby bird food that you can buy and see how they take to that. We tried it with some baby jays that were brought into a vet hospital I use to work at. But their poo was always loose on it, so I brought different insects and worms from pet shops to feed to them. Which firmed their poo and made for easier clean up the way it's suppose to be. Until they were flying around the area we kept them in and my boss let'em go one day.

Even then we kept a record to make sure that they were fed at least every couple of hours.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandj98/3554295980/
http://www.wild-bird-watching.com/lu...use-finch.html
http://www.thebirdersreport.com/wild...olor-and-sound

Sorry for the bad quality of this pic it's the middle of the night and I had to go through the trash to try and find her, here is the mom:

http://img.tapatalk.com/4428fb55-6bb8-f79e.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/4428fb55-6bc4-01b8.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/4428fb55-6bcf-7fb0.jpg

Here is a pic of the mom sorry for the bad quality it's the middle of the night

http://img.tapatalk.com/4428fb55-6cd9-16e8.jpg

Sorry double posted my phone sucks lol

Hi Bubblz:

Sorry I know it flew into my home but I don't know what kind of bird it is, I know nothing about birds, I keep snakes and beardies ask me about them and I can talk lol..birds, I know absolutely nothing

Feeding baby birds can be done infrequently, but should be done as often as possible.

Feeding babies is time consuming, but once they get the hang of it, they get it pretty quickly.

If you are serious with this, you'll likely need to bring them inside. I kept mine in a hamster/wire cage when I was hand-feeding my baby lovebirds. Near this I would mount my red heat lamp. Not too close, but enough to keep them comfortably warm. I'm sorry, I can't remember the exact temps I kept them at. It's been almost ten years since I kept them.

Babies need comfort, so try to make a 'nest' as best you can. Anything where they can feel a 'barrier' of sorts near them. This can be their siblings, or a wrinkled towel... Something for them to 'snuggle'. It's a security thing that they usually do with mom.

Feeding babies is both easy, and hard.

Get a syringe. Preferably one that has a curved plastic tip. It shouldn't be small, but not terribly large either. You basically want a syringe that you can control very easily. If you have to squeeze too hard, it'll release all of a sudden. Or it will be too small and too slow to feed quickly when you need to.

Baby bird mix can be found at most stores that supply avian food. Look around for it. More expensive is typically richer, but read the directions and make sure you can mix it.

We mixed our baby food to about 103-107F. It should be warm, but not hot. Just like a baby bottle, test it on your wrist first. If it cools, the babies will refuse it, so I would often rest my baby food in a bowl of warm water to keep the temps up and suck the food up into the syringe directly from the bowl, working quickly.

Birds digest differently than we do. They have something called a Crop. It's like a pre-stomach. It sits in front of their chest, at the bottom of their 'throat'. It often will develop into a 'bag' when full. Crops then empty into the stomach. They do this from the top down. Why you need to know this is that if a baby is fed over and over again when it is still half-full, the food on the bottom of the crop will ferment.

Baby birds, when feeding, will do the head-bobbing, heavy-swallowing action to get the food down. This is when they are opening their Crop to receive food. They are usually not breathing when they do this, as they share a windpipe like we do. This is why we want absolute control with our syringe. When the baby starts doing this, you want to squirt the baby food down their throat with some speed. Given how small they are, start in small doses until you feel comfortable. It should be quick, so that the baby has time to swallow and then start breathing immediately afterwards. I would feed my babies in 2-3 doses at first, then I could usually fill them up in 1-2 doses after practice and getting to know each baby's behavior.

Because of this, you can check when to feed them next. Touch their crops. If it feels 'loose' and empty, feed them again. If it still has 'stuff', then you can wait a while longer.

Babies need comfort, however, and interaction. If the babies die, which sometimes happens, you will want to provide marbles to stimulate other eggs that they can cuddle up to, or objects that are 'fuzzy' and they can 'snuggle' up to. Cats toys work well.

Sometimes babies won't poop without stimulation, so if you aren't noticing poop, just take a warm wet q-tip 'massage' their bum. This should help. Often if one baby is pooping, the others will too.

If that makes sense and sounds like something you want to try, then I'll be happy to help you with further advice if you need it.

Need to see more of the bird. The habits sound like Carolina Wren, but that bird shown is def not right for a wren. The other options for nesters like this would be House Sparrows, and this looks pretty good for that. Again, these are invasive species that are non-native and will not be cared for by anybody. . . For the sake of huamintarianism you can bring them up and see what happens, but for the sake of ecological reasoning, it serves no difference to the eco system if these young survive or perish. . . hence why people wont spend resources working with Starlings which are hunted . . . same with these little english house sparrows. Again, my ID could be wrong, but I'm fairly confident, and my backgrounds with birds is VERY extensive, with my name on quite a few scientfic papers including one in the Wilson's Journal of Ornithlogy. So my two cents for what it's worth. Others have already guided you toward taking care of them. I'm just giving you some ecological perspective to go with, and a potential ID.

Cheers,

Hi everyone:

I took the babies this morning to the HS and their wildlife guy said these were sparrows, and that they were 1-2 days old. He said web if I were to nurse them they most likely would not survive. I left te babies with them, wish I could have helped them but that's life.

Thanks again for all of your input really appreciate it!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Xeperxi

Hi everyone:

I took the babies this morning to the HS and their wildlife guy said these were sparrows, and that they were 1-2 days old. He said web if I were to nurse them they most likely would not survive. I left te babies with them, wish I could have helped them but that's life.

Thanks again for all of your input really appreciate it!

---

Sometimes the best way to help is to pass it on to someone who might be able to do more. Good on you for at least moving them and giving them a hope with the HS. It may be a slim bit of hope, but at least it's better than nothing.

Sorry to hear that all this drama happened. Never easy when the reality of life hits us.