Injured Starling

[ruthk]

We seem to have an injured starling visiting our garden.

He arrived on Saturday, we think he has a broken wing as it is hanging down in a strange manner, but not dragging on the floor, and he obviously can't fly.

On Saturday he just hopped around the lawn, and rockery collecting food, from under our bird feeders, then he disappeared into a neighbours garden.

We thought we had seen the last of him as we feared a local cat may get him in the night.

Well he arrived back on Sunday morning, just hopped back through the hole in the fence and came for his food, he also sat sunning himself on the rockery.

Again we didn't expect to see him back on Monday, but he sure was, he came onto the lawn for more seed, we put out some mealworms and suet aswell.

Well at this point i was very excited to see him back again and the fact that he has managed to survive without being attacked by any local cats or other wildlife, So i have named him "Wonky" as he has a wonky wing.

He has been back again today, hopping around the lawn eating food, we keep watering the rockery and leaving it very wet, thinking there will be some moisture in the ground for him.

He appears quite happy wandering around the garden and has obviously found somewhere safe to be sleeping at night, in the neighbours garden, we think he sleeps behind there shed, as there is a very narrow gap there.

Is there anything specific i should be feeding our friend Wonky, or should we just carry on with what we are doing, i've quite grown to like this little fella, i am worried that he has no water though, Any Suggestions?

[bobbarber]

Originally Posted by ruthk

Is there anything specific i should be feeding our friend Wonky, or should we just carry on with what we are doing, i've quite grown to like this little fella, i am worried that he has no water though, Any Suggestions?

Hello ruthk and welcome to WAB
The feeding seems o.k. so I would carry on as you are, as regards the water,why not use an upturned dustbin lid or any other shallow container that you have. failing that scrape a shallow hollow in the ground and line it with a plastic bin bag or the like, and fill with water, away from where cats can hide. Sadly injured garden birds that cannot fly have a poor survival rate. I wish you the best of luck...Bob

[witham]

I agree water is very important, anything can be used that's not too deep as if it gets too wet it might not be able to flap its way out with having a gammy wing, also something that won't corrode, a large plant pot saucer, an old kitchen dish anything really I've used all sorts of things over the years but make sure you keep it clean and topped up regularly