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Cardinal Law and Rule #1 on Birds

A bird does not do well in solitary. A Bird is a flock species, community living type creature. It gets sick, develops problems and dies early when kept in solitary.

I do not understand why this one fact is not broadcast over and over on the web. It is a VITAL piece of data. Just visualize yourself captured by another species and put in cage for solitary existence with no other human to communicate with. How would you do over a long period of time?

About 10 years someone brought me a sparrow that had been in the mouth of a cat. A bird rarely survives this. Even if no puncture wound. There is poison/bacteria in the saliva of a cat that kills the bird 2-3 days later. In this case the bird actually was turning his head in a lilt like he had a spinal injury. My avian Vet thought the prognosis was grim and told me he would not fly again. He survived the 3 day deadline and lived. I was jubilant..he was a survivor. However I noted he was miserable. 2 weeks went by. He was not doing any better. I went to the pet store and told my story and asked for a companion bird, the size of the sparrow. Finches are the obvious choice. Well, I brought the finch home as a companion to the sparrow and what a great move that was ! The sparrow got better and better. He would sit side by side with his new buddy, white finch I called "Buddy" They preened themselves, they chatted to each other. I saw my injured sparrow get better day by day.

Three weeks later, in the palm of my hand I released him in my front lawn and he soared in the sky raising my spirits and giving me a pleasure moment (now I had lonely finch and went and purchased a bunch more finches). This white finch picture is a picture of Buddy's son. Buddy passed on 7 years after I got him from the pet store. He was a phenomenal "bird nurse." I put other injured birds in with him and they always got better. Buddy befriended them all and explained to them that it was OK to be in a cage and get room service gourmet food, fresh veggies and corn on the cob, mirrors and swings to play with.

The first thing you should do is tell them to them to place the bird in a darker place like a shoe box. Place the bird into a rolled up sock or hand towel so that the bird has clutch. To punch some air holes in the box lid.

I get my Equestrian friends to drop off a large sack of hay once a month. I use this hay to make nests in little weaved baskets they sell in any Thrift store for 50 cents. Babies should be placed with the head raised upwards (plump up the hay) and not dangling downwards.

Baby birds are Equal Opportunity Employers! There is no fighting between babies. They are all raised in the same nest, cuddling with each other like a family ~~baby scrub jays, sparrows, finches, bluejays and so on. They live and grow up as a family.

~~Nothing gives a baby more comfort and feeling of safety than huddling up next to another baby ~~This is "nesting."

Baby birds often fall 100 feet or so from nests and arrive on the pavement or grass, naked, blind, orphaned. A large percentage are killed by house pet cats. The real benefactors of bird rescue are the human species. These acts of kindness are rewarded by Nature in the most extraordinary ways.

FEEDING FREQUENTLY IS VITAL FOR BABIES

Baby birds grow rapidly to adult size --many in as little as 15 to 21 days! This rapid growth requires frequent feeding or they will die. Minimally, the bird needs food 3x an hour throughout daylight hours. When you get the hang of it, actual feeding is very fast. I normally raise 15 babies at a time. Babies do best cuddling with each other in a nest, all species can be nesting together.

The best immediate food is baby food (like Gerbers) in the little glass jars ~~ 99 cents) All babyfood works well, fruit mixtures, meat mixtures and so on. Cat or dog food will also work but must first be prepared by cooking it into a pulpy watery mush.

All food must always be warm (not hot) I place the food in my microwave for a few seconds. NEVER feed cold food to the baby ...cold food will kill it!

A modern breakthrough has occurred to enhance the life of baby birds (both pet birds and wild orphaned birds). Scientists have developed baby bird formulas which simulate the mother's regurgitated "milk". All pet stores have it. Follow the directions on the container. Remember to warm the formula before feeing your bird. I microwave the mixed formula to warm it prior to feeding. They cannot digest it cold, and it could kill it! Never ever use the previous days' unused supply. This could also kill the bird (bacteria has changed it). I have successfully for many many years raised every kind of baby on Lafeber's Hand Feeding Formula for Baby Birds and also KAYTEE exact Hand-Feeding Formula.

Check the Fullness of the Crop. Nature designed a rather unique feature called a "crop" in our feather friends. A crop is a sack or bag in the throat area that blows up like a balloon. This area forms a food storage compartment designed to hold a quantity of food until needed.

The crop should be swollen after every feeding. If the crop is not swelling, you are not feeding it enough.

After feeding, immediately clean up baby with a wet tissue. Old food can develop bacteria and so on. Baby must be gently washed and cleaned of all remnant food.

It is best to throw away any unused formula and wash utensils.

PIGEON and DOVE FEEDING

If the bird has a long protruding beak (doves, pigeons specially), they must be fed in a special way.



a) Such birds put their beak down their mother's throat to get food.

b) You must simulate this by feeding them a "bottle"

c) Use a baby bottle and baby nipple. Slice the baby nipple just enough for the beak to go inside and move up and down.

Both bottle and nipple are 99 cents. It will take some practice, but once you get the hat, feeding these babies the bottle is a breeze.

EMERGENCY FIRST AID
Basic tips to treat your bird. When in doubt, take your bird to your vet!

Situation:
Bird is bleeding (puncture wound or bite from larger bird, accident, trauma).
How to handle:
An immediate quick fix that stops the bleeding is Hydrogen Peroxide. Put a liberal amount of Hydrogen Peroxide on a Kleenex or cotton and hold it gently but firmly in the the wound for 3-4 minutes. It should stop the bleeding almost immediately.

Situation:
Bird flew straight into glass (windows, car) and is stunned, can't stand up straight.
How to handle:
Keep in secure safe space, very often a couple of days of safe space will handle the situation and it will be ready for release back to the wild in 2-3 days.
a) ~~ Diet ~~~puppy chow or cat mix greatly softened in boiling water is a great emergency diet for most birds. Soft bread, croissants, brown bread. Water in a bowl. Water should be deep, not in a saucer. Some birds need to suction out the water and need to go deep into the water.
Nothing comforts a bird back to normality as being in the proximity of other birds ~~even if they viewing each other through separate cages~~

Situation:
Bird is covered with Tar or some sticky stuff such as paint.
How to handle:
Use Elmer's "Sticky Out". It is sold by Elmers glue in all supermarkets in the school supply section. It costs $1.00. Just as effective is "GOO GONE". Do not use vaseline, Neosporin or any other ointment!

Situation:
I read all the above but my problem is something else!
How to handle:
I highly recommend this site for more information. (It covers almost everything)
Cockatiel.org - Bird First Aid

So much habitat loss due to modern developments cause huge population declines due to lack of food. You can give a helping hand to a few parent birds trying to make a living, trying to raise their young by setting up bird feeders in your yard ~~ and birds will treat you by visiting! All kinds of beauties show up. I recommend you Google your Zip code and State asking for local indigenous birds to your area. Then Google to find out what the birds eat.

Bird feeders and general wild bird food is sold very inexpensively at Costco and most other big stores. All Supermarkets carry wild bird food.

Place the feeders in a safe area, visible to the birds and not where a cat could leap up and get them.

The relationship and eventual love affair with birds is a gentle gradient. You can start on the path by simply feeding some outside wild birds who will visit with you daily. It's a great hobby and a way of giving something back to nature.

Although many people will say that the slaughter of birds by cats is not significant in quantity, the cumulative amount is devastation ~~ because there are now millions and millions or pet cats.

Isn't it natural for cats to hunt birds?

Yes, it is, but cats are not native to North America, they are an import, and the United States did not have 9 pet million cats 100 years ago.Experts say over 50% of baby birds are slaughtered by roaming cats who are allowed outdoors in the key months of April to August when hatchlings try to get their wings (It is a day or 2 of practice, when they fall to the ground and caught in the mouth of a cat)One cat can kill 500 birds in a short space of time.In nature, predators are supposed to be rare and not abundant ~~ it effects the whole eco system. Please keep your cat indoors in Spring!

Cats have a huge advantage

Because their food is guaranteed by loving pet owners, they are not subject to starvation, forest fires burning nests, lack of food due to change of season and when ill, they are taken to a vet and giving modern medicine to survive better and longer.

Well Fed Cats

Even Well fed cats will kill birds wholesale. They do not need to be hungry to hunt. Cat attacks and babies orphaned by cat attacks are the single largest reason for admission into wild life rescues. Even when External damage is minor, massive internal damage to a fragile bird frequently occurs. Soft tissue of the bird is penetrated by the 60 different bacteria in the cat's saliva. If a cat survives being in the mouth of a cat, it is more or less a MIRACLE!

To all Cat lovers

Please note my love of animal extends to cats. I have a cat called Christmas Cat because he adopted ME on Christmas Day. He sleeps in my California King Size Bed and does not interfere with my Bird rescue activities. (The avaries are well out of reach anyway) Above is written in context of cats and Baby Birds.

"MYTH"
A popular belief that is actually an unfounded or false notion

False!

False!

1) Find the names, addresses and tel nos of your local vets and pet stores.

2) Hand deliver a note to each Vet office (for their notice board) and Pet Store a note that you will adopt orphaned birds. This is always well received. These are business for charity welfare groups for birds, so they will be pleased to take your tel nos, include your cell phone.

~~ SAMPLE NOTE ~~

I rescue baby birds that have fallen out of nests, unwanted pet birds large or small. Also Pet birds that have flown away.

I am not a dealer, this is a hobby done from the heart.

Name. Tel nos..........

3) Go to Ebay and purchase CDs of Bird sounds, birds singing. Have a portable CD player that plays these sounds. When you phone calls of a flown away bird such as a cockatiel or parrot in a tree, take your CD player and play the sounds. Put a bunch of treats, millet spray, and other wild bird seed in a large dish near the tree. The Bird will stay in the area of the bird sounds and come down to eat and drink.

I have experienced wonderment at the will to survive of this bird. I have had pigeons brought to me with paralysed legs that could only walk by manipulating their wings while lying on their backs. One time I had a call from a nearby Circuit City that found a live pigeon thrown in the garbage bin. I rescued her (local vets and pet stores give out my tel no) and I learnt many hard lessons from her sheer will to survive herhandicaps. 6 months later, she was sitting up straight and I had her "foster" some orphaned baby pigeons. She was one of the best foster moms I had.

Here's a true story of the urge to survive~~

A pigeon was dropped off in a paper bag literally dying. It has 22 BB gun pellets embedded in him. Some kid shot at him for "fun". My avian Vet had to amputate a wing. He removed all the bullets but the pigeon died in surgery. My vet knew I would be sad. He said "Karen, we lose some of them, we can only do our best." 2 hours later my vet called me back. He was in disbelief. He had not removed pigeon to deep freeze because he had gotten busy with other surgeries. 2 hours later, when he went back to the surgery table, the pigeon was fluttering and had revived. Cut a long story short, I took him back where I kept him a shelter for outdoor birds. He became King of the Castle, He pranced around and other birds let him eat first, he was popular and respected. A pigeon who survived 22 bb-gun bullets with an amputated wing, lived on another 3 happy years.

Want to read another amazing pigeon story?
This will move you emotionally even if you have not felt a connection with birds.

Click here to read the story of the Blind pigeon that flies

Flying Blind Through Life ~~ Unie's story

Many pigeons are exterminated with painful poisons that give them seizures and Man seems to have forgotten that Pigeons have a noble history, and is one of the most loyal and affectionate of birds

You can release the pigeon and he will fly away, and the next day he is back, sitting on the fence, looking to locate you and see if you will put out some bread and water. Pigeons bond easily with humans, especially those that feed them, and a tamed pigeon, kept alone, will become a faithful and loyal companion to its human. Pigeons live to fly ~~ even though flight is full of danger ~~~they can be killed in flight by gauntlet of hawks, cats when they alight, cars, windows, kids with BB guns and pigeon-hating or the practice-shooting adult pigeons with rifles as a "sport".

• Homing pigeons can repeatedly find their way back from long distances that they have never even travelled before.Many researchers believe that this stems from the ability of birds to detect the Earth's magnetic field.


• Racing pigeons can do 1500 miles in one flight without a rest stop, without food, without water ~~think about that!


• Carrier pigeons have been used in World War I and World War II. In World War I, and one homing pigeon, Cher Ami, was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for his heroic service in delivering 12 important messages, despite being shot once.


• In World War II homing pigeons were air dropped behind enemy lines in German-occupied France and Holland as a means for locals to convey information, such as troop movements, to British intelligence

Read the Consequences of slaughtering this humble bird that causes no problems to anyone, and eats bugs, insects and helps the eco-system.

Chairman Mao (Mao Tse-Tung) (who also by the way was a psychopath who caused severe damage to the Chinese people including 10s of millions of Chinese deaths in PEACE TIME !...) perpetrated the "Kill the Four Pests" campaign, inducing the mass slaughter of millions of sparrows and a subsequent explosion in the locust population. The destruction of forests led to erosion and the spread of deserts, and the locust resurgence prompted a collapse of the nation's grain crop. The result was history's greatest famine, in which 30 to 50 million Chinese died.

Read More

Extinction is not only death of one, but of the entire species, forever!

It has been almost 90 years since anyone has seen a passenger pigeon. Only 200 years ago, there were millions and millions and millions. You would never have thought extinction was probable.

Professional exterminators were hired to slaughter the birds. Since Passenger Pigeons only lived in huge flocks, they were easy to kill in staggering numbers. In 1878, for example, a flock of Passenger Pigeons in Petoskey, Michigan, were shot and clubbed to death at a rate of 50,000 birds a day, every day, for nearly five months. The last one was shot to death by a 14 year old for getting a bite of corn. The last handful of Passenger Pigeons were in zoos as no more wild and free ones were left. The very last one alive of the entire species was Martha who lived 29 years. She spent most of her life in the Cincinnati zoo. Zoo officials and Avian experts knew extinction was on the horizon and offered $$$1000s of dollars to anyone who could come forward with a mate. It never happened. We will never see a Passenger pigeon again.

There are birds that are being brought back from the brink of extinction and sometimes one person can save a whole species.The Military Macaw was down to 70 world wide and is up to 750. Click here to read more about saving endangered birds: American Bird Conservancy (ABC) - a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to conserve wild birds and their habitats throughout the Americas. www.camacdonald.com/birding/actionalerts.html is also an important link on Bird Extinction.

You may rescue an orphaned bird, but you cannot keep it as a pet.

As LICENSED Wildlife Rehabilitator for the last several years, I have rescued 100s if not 1000's of baby birds and released most of them back to nature and some to licensed sanctuaries. (I live in Griffith Park ~~ 4,210 acres in the Heart of Los Angeles where wild life is abundant)   I have raised Bluejays, Scrubjays, Sparrows, Crows, Ravens, Hawks, Owls, Red necked Pigeons, King Pigeons, Feral Pigeons, Falcons and so on and so on. This has given me enormous pleasure, a sense of caring and bonding and nurturing and gives me a MOM hat which I love.

To care for wild birds, you first must

1) Get Trained!
2) Get Licensed!

Wild orphaned birds are fragile. They die easily! You cannot help them without first going through a training cycle. I am writing up emergency actions to do in the interim, but you cannot hope to succeed without the training, hatting and coaching.

Classes are easy, and take about the same number of hours of doing "Car School" to avoid a traffic ticket. To find out about your local classes, go to the US Department of Wild Life Fish and Game Web Site.

Get your rescued wild bird to a licensed wild life rehabilitator

U.S. Wildlife Rehabilitator Contacts by State (A-M)

U.S. Wildlife Rehabilitator Contacts by State (N-Z)