Hi there,
3 days ago i came accross the local cats destroying a blackbirds nest in a bush, 2 babies were ripped in half, the mother's head was missing, one fledgling was still alive, cowering in the gutter,
My dog chased the cats off, and the remaining fledgling i picked up, i placed the dead birds in the bin to keep them from the cats, the nest was shreaded, not slaveagable,
i put the survivor in a cage at home, made a nest from a thermal glove placed on a heat pad, and left it quiet to recover.
i took the dog back out and hid down the end of the street, and looked for the father, but absolutely no sign of him, it was about midnight now.
Back home, i read up on the tinternet about looking after the baby bird, soaked some cat biscuits on warm water, and fed it a couple, then settled it down for the night.
The next day i fed it again, then took it with me to the (ex)nest site, placed it in the undergrowth and retired to a hidy place a good 50 meters away, it was mid morning, so no traffic as everyone was at work,
after 2 hours i had seen absolutely no sign of the father, but the baby was keeping silent, so i had to collect the baby back up, and brought it back home.
I rang the rspb, who told me to either take it to the vet to be put down, or leave it in the undergrowth and let nature take it's course,
the local wildlife rescue didnt want it as it had too many cat caught birds in, and told me to either rear it my self or take it to them and they will put it down.
Needless to say i'm rearing it my self, i agree with nature, natural selection, survival of the fittest and all that, but the cats were domestic ones (and i'm ashamed to say one of them was ours
and they were kiling the birds for fun, not to survive.
It has a couple of small injuries, the very tip of it's beak is gone, we're talking the last millimeter, the pointy bit, i can only assume it was abraded by the kerb stone it was cowering against/had been chased to, theres no bleeding now, it's a little red from when it had been bleeding, but it dosent seem to be fussed about it at all,
i read it should grow back, but if it dosent it may have problems preening it's self, digging out worms etc.
it also has a tiny tiny puncture wound on it's back, it's in the very top layer of skin only, more of a nick, and that's healed up now... has a scab.
it took me a few different websites to find out most fledglings got by cats die in 2-3 days due to blood poisoning from the cats spit.. had it 3 days now, and it's fine, so hopefully it was lucky in that respect.
Anyway, it seems to be doing well, i've been feeding it meal worms, maggots, mince beef, soaked cat biscuits and worms from the garden,
Every website i read it gives a different story about them tho, how to care for them, how to teach them to be wild, but none of them seem to go into detail about how they develop, other than 12 or so days as a nestling, 12-14 days as a fledgling,
Is there a website that gives a sort of time line of it's development?
i.e.
day 1, eyes closed, no feathers etc, weighs xx grams
day xx eyes open, down on wings, back, chest etc, squeaking chirp for food, weighs xx grams
day xx feathers coming through, still bald in xxxx places, chirp more pronounced weighs xx grams
day xx tail feathers begining to sprout, still blad on tummy, begining to sing to it's self, and call out weighs xx grams
day xx begining to fly, copying song of adult, fully featheres all over, weighs xx grams.
and so on????
i'm trying to age it, and see if it's progressing properly,
it weighs 55 grams today, tail feathers about 10mm long erupting from tubes, still bald on tummy/bum area, bald on back under where wings meet.
it's begining to hop about, first 2 days is spent mainly sat on it's knees (the bird way, i.e. bum on floor)
it would stay where ever i placed it, nest/perch/cage floor.
now it's beginin to move about, cheeps for food a bit, but really dosent make much sound,
i've been playing it blackbird songs from the internet, and it listens, but isnt trying to emulate them yet.
it's just begining to answer my 'chirps' and whistle, i whistle when i feed it, but it dosent seem ready to move towards the food much.
i havent seen it preen it's self yet, takes no interest in the bowl of water to wash in,
and i'm not sure if it's a boy or a girl, has a nicely mottled chest of spotty brown, black-ish feathers coming thru on wings,
i take it there's no way to sex a blackbird by looking at it's bits?
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