[Chel]

A very cute little sparrow materialised in my kitchen earlier today, then flew at top speed into the window, multiple times, before falling to the ground and being pounced on by my over eager and uncharacteristically insensitive puppy (she's always been around little animals and she's usually very good at keeping her distance).

Now I have a very cute little problem on my hands. After 5 minutes the little darling was up and flitting around in my emergency bird cage (this happens to me a lot!) so, all seems to be well, but I'm unsure about the future. The problem is sparrows are not native to Australia and are very much a pest and a menace to both agriculture and the native environment, so my moral obligation to my country to do one of two things; wring its neck, or keep it as a pet. The latter is by far my preference.

I have looked after a number of injured birds before, with the intention of rehabilitation. This task seems almost too simple. I've raised White Plummed Honey Eaters from featherless jelly beans to what could nearly be called mature independant birds (they always knew who their 'real' mummy was :P) The problem with this particular bird is, where I normally would have rung the local wildlife officer and he'd give me the advice i need, he's not very interested in helping me out! The fact is, caring for a full grown Sparrow isn't something that people know or care about in Australia.

Is there anything I need to know that I may not find easily on a website (like diet and recommended cage size, which I'm sure will be easy enough to find out). I've found with the native birds I've looked after they tend to have specific requirements when living in capitivity, particularly when its a perminant arrangement.

Also, something that does concern me, is this is an adult male bird, its wild and now I intend on keeping it in a cage. As much as I hate to consider it, are sparrows particularly prone to 'cabin fever', as in, he's not likely to cope with sudden capitivity so the moral thing to do is to put him down quickly and ethically.