Help! Baby bird down!

greenspun.com : LUSENET : Wildtalk Spain : One Thread

A baby bird has been wandering (on foot) around our patio this evening. What can we do to save him? Any chance he can be reunited with his mother, or do we try to feed him in a shoebox until he's big enough to fly away? We've put him up in a hanging basket (picked him up with a towel) to hopefully keep him safe from cats, but we don't know what to feed him. He happily took water from a dropper. We live in Castilla Leon, just south of Valladolid. He has a long pointy yellow beak, and big legs. He´s at least 10cm tall. There is a very glossy black, compact medium sized bird with a yellow beak in our pueblo, we don't know the name (is it a type of crow?), seems to me this is a baby version of that. Well, if anyone has advice, thanks. I'll continue to try to find out if there is a rescue place we could bring him to in the area, or if not, what we could feed the little guy!

-- Laura Engel (seanengel@teleline.es), June 01, 2001

Answers

Laura it sounds a lot like a young starling,probably a Spotless starling (Sturnus unicolor). They are very common in central Spain and nest typically in holes on rooftops. I suggest you put it back on the roof - its parents are almost certainly around and will continue to feed it for a long time. Hand rearing isn't usually a good idea as it produces tame birds which cannot then fend for themselves in the wild.

Hope this helps,

Damian

-- Damian Martin (damianmartin@post.com), June 01, 2001.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ