Juvenile House Marten

SparklySarah · #1 (**permalink**) 05-08-2009, 09:04 PM

Some of you may remember a couple of years ago I adopted two young house martens that dad rescued from his work in Hereford before they got pulverized by the rain. Well, it's happened again, this time without the rain. The little thing had either fallen out of the nest or as before the nest had collapsed. It was sitting in the middle of the forecourt and was basically being ignored by the adult birds. There was no safe place for it and as the forecourt is used regularly by lorries and tractors there was no question of leaving it there. The It's so small, much smaller than our last two but it's slightly older with less of the quills showing. Am I right in saying that late broods are generally smaller? Its eating well and caught on to the tweezer-feeding a lot quicker than Tufty and Biddy. Meela, as I've called it (liked the sound of the name and befits his tiny size!

), has got a lot brighter as the evening has gone on and has started to open his eyes a bit more. And he's very chatty!!!! The one question I'd like to ask and don't know if there is an answer so early on, but is there a way of finding out if it's male or female?
I'll get a photo of Meela up here when I get a chance to take one. He's so sweet

xxx

SparklySarah · #2 (**permalink**) 06-08-2009, 06:57 AM

Got off to a shaky start this morning. Meela was very quiet and wasn't eating but after about an hour of perseverance managed to get him to eat one on his own without help. On thing we are a little concerened about though is the fact that he isn't opening his eyes, where as our other two had opened their eyes by now. He's stretching and makig noises when you hold food up to his beak, and he also refuses to leave my hand when I'm putting him back in the box, as if he feels safe there or knows it's a source of food.

Just want to know if it's ok that he hasn't opened his eyes yet and he shiveres a little. One thing to note is that we don't know how long he was without food before dad picked him up. I'm just wandering if he is just recoering from being out in the open forecourt with no food or protection. I'm certainly not giving up on him just yet, and am planning on ringing Hartpury to see if they can give me any more advice. They were lovely last time. xxx

valleyforge · #3 (**permalink**) 06-08-2009, 08:55 AM

Hi SparklySarah ... can I ask what it is you are feeding?

Can you upload a photograph perhaps so that we can better judge just what stage of development he/she is at?

If the bird is reluctant to leave your hand and is perhaps shivering a little, he/she may be too cold ... they can't ingest food if they are too chilled.

Have you got the bird somewhere warm ... any external source of heat available?

SparklySarah · #4 (**permalink**) 06-08-2009, 09:57 AM

Hey Valleyforge. I'm feeding it cut up live mealworms atm. He's certainly warmed up in my hand, but we haven't got any where really warm enough to put him. We've rung round places and now a wildlife centre in Cirencester is going to take him so he'll be with other babies. I'm meeting him in Gloucester. I think it's the best thing for little Meela. I'll get some picks up of him anyway; he's quite far long with nearly all his feathers out an very little quill left. Still has a gape, though that won't go for a while. Taking him in in a bit so will tell you later what happened. xxx

valleyforge · #5 (**permalink**) 06-08-2009, 10:09 AM

Thanks SS ... that sounds like the best option for him.

Being with others of his kind will give him the best chance to develop and eventually get back into the wild.

Well done you for being so caring.

SparklySarah · #6 (**permalink**) 07-08-2009, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by valleyforge

Thanks SS ... that sounds like the best option for him.

Being with others of his kind will give him the best chance to develop and eventually get back into the wild.

Well done you for being so caring.

Yeah, little Meela's gone now. Tis really sad, but it's best for him. We did so well with Tufty and Biddy, but because they had each other they did better than being on their own. Meela was starting to eat better and open his eyes more as the day went on and I fed him a little when I was taking him to Gloucester on the bus. He was very energetic! Goning to miss him..... xxx