collared dove dilema

[nettucker]

Oh dear, I think we've made a mistake!

We were in the middle of a rainy, windy, busy town and there in the middle of a busy road was a collard (have I spelt it properly?!!) dove staggering about, trying to fly but not being sucessful, cars were swerving around it and I thought, any minute now, he's going to be hit. So my partner and I rescued the poor sodden thing from the middle of the road and put him on the pavement. He still seemed unable to fly and there appeared initially to be something wrong with his tail feathers. We wondered if he was a young bird with a mother somewhere but because of the time of year decided that it was too early and he/she looked like an adult bird.

However now we've got him/her home and dried out - his tail feathers seem to only be partially developed, not damaged, so perhaps he really is a young bird and should have been left somewhere out of harms way. We were going to take him to our vet who is a bird specialist.

What should we feed him (he's got seeds and some bread at the moment) and should we let him go now - (we aren't near the busy town where we found him) or should we try and raise him for a few weeks until those tail feathers are properly filled out, feed him up and then release him. We have a big bird table and collard doves and wood pidgeons are in residence.

Any help gratefully received.

All the best,

T

[Kayleigh]

These birds can breed all year round but you can't just let it go as it needs it's mother to feed it. If it is a young bird it will not be able to fend for it's self yet. They eat regurgitated food from the parents. See what the vet says.

The RSPB: Advice

[naturelover]

Hi nettucker,a warm welcome to the site,you did no different to what i would have done,would have been different if it had been away from that busy road,all i can sergest is keep it in a cage if you have one,keep it quiet with food and water,if its old enough,if not the only other thing you can do is take it to a vet as kayleigh said,
as soon as possable because if its too young to feed its self i will be very serprised if it makes it through the night.

[mystic meg]

Hi,
Young collared doves can be very difficult to do, depending on age. Has the bird developed his collar? If so it should be able to feed for itself, do you have any budgie seed, if so leave a dish in for it, as well as a dish of water. If the collar is not yet developed, it should be ok overnight, as long as you keep it warm. Make it a nest type bed, if you roll a long length kitchen roll round to make a circle, then lay another thicker piece in the middle of the circle, push your fist in it to make a cosy indentation, then place the bird in the middle , it will feel safe, best to put it in a box, and place some where quiet.
It would be best to find a wildlife hospital near you for care. It may need tube feeding, and also young birds need time to develop, so will need aviary space to learn to fly before being set free. That info above is for straight forward collared doves, your bird may have other problems. Good luck

[Rats]

Good luck with the Dove. We hardly see them round our way anymore, hope he will be ok.

[Hobjob]

Oh dear I'm going to make myself unpopular

A contrary view.

I think birds like this should be left to take their chances
in the jungle, urban in this case. OK, lift it clear of the traffic
by all means, but leave it to be found by its parents - that is
really its only hope.

And one sick bird is an easy meal for something - fox, peregrine,
sparrowhawk, crow, magpie etc.. They have to eat and usually
go for the weakest around, just like lions take the young and weak
of a herd of wildebeest. If the no-hopers are not around then
BOP will go for a bird with a better chance of breeding.
(Not that collar doves seem to have too much trouble breeding
round my garden!!)

OK there are exceptions of course, a powerline injured osprey,
an oiled penguin, a swan caught with fishing line etc., but
note most of the exceptions will be humans trying to undo
some of the harm that humans have caused.

Nature is at times cruel, but hmans' record of interfeerence
does not have a very good pedigree ...............

[Kayleigh]

I agree Hobjob.. Every year members of the public see young birds or chicks that they think have been left or abandoned and move the chick. Which is the worst thing to do..But in this situation if there was no hedges close by it sounds as if the dove would have been run over..I posted a link on advice from the rspb that states to leave the chicks where they are.

[epops]

the other thing is when you come to release it it may not go i had one which the cat caught we bought it back to good health then when it was time to go it did,nt it ended up living in an avairy in the end.

[mystic meg]

Every fledgling bird found on the ground must be given careful thought before picking it up.
I do think it was right to pick up the young collared dove, doves are pretty helpless on their own and it sounded like this one may have been blown out of a tree, especially as its' tail feathers were still in the quills.
The spring and summer fledglings are the problem with members of the public (especially children) picking them up. But what we have to remember is each one is an individual case, we at our wildlife hospital have to ask so many questions to make sure we make the right decisions on wether the bird comes in or not.

[nettucker]

I think the problem we had was that we didn't realise that it was a young bird. He/she did look like an adult - and because he was in the road with cars swerving around him/her - we thought he'd already been hit.

Our vet did say that he was old enough to feed himself but that he was indeed only a young bird - He did have his neck ring - (he showed us his tail feathers - which were underdeveloped) - sadly - although we quite a bit about a many birds - doves we knew little about and were very nieve. We would never have picked up a young bird knowing it was young and with it's mother near by. We see them constantly where we live - particuarly crows but usually only from spring and through summer.

We were thrown by the time of year - which again was silly of us. Never the less - the vet told us that he didn't seem quite right - although his wings were fine, he was holding himself in a very strange way and his stools weren't right aparently. The vet thought he was a dying bird sadly.

He didn't think he would survive and although we got him eating - and snug - he died last night.

Thank you for all of your help, advice and support. He was a beautiful little creature sick or not.


xxT