Feeding babies
Buoyed by the success of uploading pics in my last post, here's a story and pics about learning to feed a baby bird.
Walking in the park in July, it was dusk, the time I enjoy the most. It's quiet, there's a fragrant breeze, and Im at peace. But today, rounding a corner, I was startled by a little myna hopping in panic across my path and struggling into the undergrowth at the edge, for cover. Clearly a fledgeling fallen from its nest. Where was the nest? I looked at all the trees in the vicinity, could spot nothing. No frantic parents. Just the baby bird, unable to fly; the gathering dark; lots of crows, certainly cats and dogs, perhaps the odd snake - we'd seen one a few weeks earlier. Jai rounded the corner, too, to find me pondering and looking at the undergrowth. Was picking it up - with zero idea of what it wd eat/how to feed it - the right thing to do? BUT, 2 days later, we were scheduled to leave for a week's holiday to Goa. I called my friend, Deepika. Would she look after it while we were away? "I have absolutely no idea how to. But I will." That's her spirit and kind heart for you! We couldn't just leave it. (Note: If you can see the nest and the parents, try putting the bird back in. If you can't see or reach the nest, but can see the parents, try putting the bird into a cloth sling -like a large handkerchief- and hanging it on a branch. The parents, stimulated by the baby's calls, will feed it. As told to us later by Manu of Mysore Amateur Naturalists). We gently picked up the frantic baby and put it in my bunched up sweatshirt. At home, we punched holes in a large cardboard box, lined it with a soft towel and paper (after seeing the poop on the sweatshirt). And put birdy in. It scrabbled into a corner, trying to hide. We tried calling Salim of Banerghatta Rescue Center (BRC) - 080-22947300. "It needs rehydrating. Get a syringe,and put some diluted electral down its throat. But dont get it wrong, or it'll die." "What do you mean, get it wrong?" "If it dies, it's wrong!" We got the syringe, but it sounded too dire. We tried feeding it mashed banana. At the end of 30 mins, it and we were covered with banana, and it refused to open its beak. We gave up and let it rest. The next morning, we called up Manu. To our relief, he agreed (a) to give us a demo of feeding it and (b) to take it in after 2 days, when we had to leave.
Driving to Manu's place at about 8.30 a.m, we were startled to hear a soft chirp from the box. And another! Manu picked it up confidently, picked up a piece of banana, and held it in front of birdy. It immediately gaped wide, screaming, and gulped down the banana. gah! It eats melon, banana, singapore cherries, chikku..we got all of them. Also boiled and mashed some egg yolk and oats, and fed it for protein (If you can find cockroaches or other insects, mash them and feed! I tried asking my long suffering veggie vendor for insects. No, not the vegetable. The worms in the vegetable. No luck). Every 2-3 hours, birdy would start chirping, which meant: feed me!
Walking in the park in July, it was dusk, the time I enjoy the most. It's quiet, there's a fragrant breeze, and Im at peace. But today, rounding a corner, I was startled by a little myna hopping in panic across my path and struggling into the undergrowth at the edge, for cover. Clearly a fledgeling fallen from its nest. Where was the nest? I looked at all the trees in the vicinity, could spot nothing. No frantic parents. Just the baby bird, unable to fly; the gathering dark; lots of crows, certainly cats and dogs, perhaps the odd snake - we'd seen one a few weeks earlier. Jai rounded the corner, too, to find me pondering and looking at the undergrowth. Was picking it up - with zero idea of what it wd eat/how to feed it - the right thing to do? BUT, 2 days later, we were scheduled to leave for a week's holiday to Goa. I called my friend, Deepika. Would she look after it while we were away? "I have absolutely no idea how to. But I will." That's her spirit and kind heart for you! We couldn't just leave it. (Note: If you can see the nest and the parents, try putting the bird back in. If you can't see or reach the nest, but can see the parents, try putting the bird into a cloth sling -like a large handkerchief- and hanging it on a branch. The parents, stimulated by the baby's calls, will feed it. As told to us later by Manu of Mysore Amateur Naturalists). We gently picked up the frantic baby and put it in my bunched up sweatshirt. At home, we punched holes in a large cardboard box, lined it with a soft towel and paper (after seeing the poop on the sweatshirt). And put birdy in. It scrabbled into a corner, trying to hide. We tried calling Salim of Banerghatta Rescue Center (BRC) - 080-22947300. "It needs rehydrating. Get a syringe,and put some diluted electral down its throat. But dont get it wrong, or it'll die." "What do you mean, get it wrong?" "If it dies, it's wrong!" We got the syringe, but it sounded too dire. We tried feeding it mashed banana. At the end of 30 mins, it and we were covered with banana, and it refused to open its beak. We gave up and let it rest. The next morning, we called up Manu. To our relief, he agreed (a) to give us a demo of feeding it and (b) to take it in after 2 days, when we had to leave.
Driving to Manu's place at about 8.30 a.m, we were startled to hear a soft chirp from the box. And another! Manu picked it up confidently, picked up a piece of banana, and held it in front of birdy. It immediately gaped wide, screaming, and gulped down the banana. gah! It eats melon, banana, singapore cherries, chikku..we got all of them. Also boiled and mashed some egg yolk and oats, and fed it for protein (If you can find cockroaches or other insects, mash them and feed! I tried asking my long suffering veggie vendor for insects. No, not the vegetable. The worms in the vegetable. No luck). Every 2-3 hours, birdy would start chirping, which meant: feed me!
I'd take it out, place it on paper, clean out the poop from its box - it would poop after (sometimes during) each feed :) by simply throwing the paper away. Then, feed time. It would gape every time I held a morsel to its beak - perhaps 4-5 times. Then it wouldnt open its beak, which meant: 'I'm full".
By end of day two, we were getting quite comfortable with each other! It was quite a pang to hand it over to Manu..when we checked a couple of days later, he said it was doing very well. We couldnt get through to him after that. We hope it flew away and is healthy and happy.
posted by AnJ at 9:14 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home