A Bird in the Hand -- make that TWO!!!
 

You'll never believe this!

For those of you who don't know, I've been hand-feeding a baby warbler for about 5 days now. mrsd has been my bird mentor, and so I named the wee one "Maxie" in her honor (middle name is Maxine). http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread49086.html

I was in the laundry room feeding Maxie in her makeshift nest/cottage cheese container (too windy to put her in the hanging petunia pot on front porch) and heard a big racket going on in the front yard.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the laundry room to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

Another baby warbler -- oh DEAR!!!


She was stranded on the sidewalk underneath the big tree due, I surmise, to a big wind gust. Her parents were in a dither shouting instructions but, alas, she could not fly. So I scooped her up before the big hungry kittycats claimed her for dinner!

This yellow birdie is more developed than Maxie and very agressive! Whereas Maxie was near death when I found her, very docile and, yes, even appreciative, this one wants a piece of my finger!!! :eek:

So now they share a cottage cheese container until I find something more suitable.

Must go! Nature is calling!!! Tweet tweet tweet!

Oh dear momma bird Twink.....

Have you hung out a sign saying Baby Bird Vacancies, apply within?

Are you sure you didn't raid a nest just because Maxie looked lonesome? Just joking Twink! :)

You are a dear sweet foster Mom, and I can't wait to hear the exploits of this little tite.

Awww, Twink! The word is out now......free room and board at your house. And free dog food, too!

A little birdie told me....:p :p :D

they all will be coming to you for feeding twink, the other baby told them you really work those worms good lol
: )~~

Looks like we have something in common..We both have "Sucker" stamped on our foreheads, and only animals can see it..:D
You're an excellent mama bird, Twink! Congratulations on your expanding family!http://dl4.glitter-graphics.net/pub/...dbjv00mrz0.gif

OMGosh...
 

That nest has to be on the ground! The cat found it.

You know song sparrows nest on the ground too. Their nests are so concealed we have stood over them and not seen them!

But cats can hear the sounds the birds make and do find them.
My Oreo has trashed several over the years up North ( I grit my teeth over that!)

all kidding aside it is kind of you to tend to them, as all of my pets have been adopted or throw away pets, mostly the latter.

deletedeletedeletedelete its so hard to behave lol

good job twink

Tweedly, Deedly, Dee...Tweedlly, Deedly, Dee!
 

:yahoo::You-Rock::trampoline::Head-Spin::Music 2::sing::Dancing-Chilli:
She rocks in the treetop all day long,
Rockin and Boppin and singing this song,
All the little warblers on Twinkle's street,
love the cottage inn, yah, tweet, tweet, tweet!

Rockin Twinkles, yah, yah,
Rockin Twinkles, yah, yah,
Go Rockin Twinkles, oh she's really rockin out of sight!!!!!!!

:hug:

:Dancing-Chilli: Woohoo! Donna is still alive this morning!

I am calling her Donna cuz she has a Princess attitude, like a Prima Donna!

She has such disdain for me. I offered her a nice little juicy wiggling worm last night, but she refused.

So Maxie got all the good stuff before lights out.

Donna was acting very near death more than once, and I was afraid it was permanent "lights out" for her. But her little feisty spirit won over and she was just barely hanging on this morning.

In fact, it is her fighting spirit that compelled the little prima donna to open her mouth: She wants to take a chunk out of my finger! :eek: But, I was ready for her this time.

Did you know you can easily make a very tasty gruel from canned dog food? It's true: add warm water and shake or stir briskly. Then draw it up into the eyedropper and, when Her Highness opens her beak, you shove it down her throat and force-feed. She was hoping I didn't notice, but I'm sure I caught her licking her lips a time or two! :D

Friend2U:
:ROTFLMAO:
:ROTFLMAO:
:ROTFLMAO:

Thanks everyone! Your comments are greatly appreciated.

Must get ready for chuch. Fortunately, I live across the street so I can run home every 15 min. for feeding time (the birdies' -- not mine, silly!)

They are sitting in the hanging petunia pot as I write this. I have sent a pic to Doody (thanks for posting it!) so you can get a look at the siblings.

How come you didn't name her "DM"? :D

Holy cow! I was going to laze around this morning (something wrong with my left hand and it hurts like crazy) but decided to check and omg! Another one Ms. Twink! And a birdy picture message!!??

I must go retrieve, LOL. BRB! :D

Here they are. Too cute, Twink! :hug:

http://s13.photobucket.com/albums/a2...ieAndDonna.jpg

I actually gave it some consideration! :D

Is that Maxie on the left???

Absolutely adorable! Thanks for posting these pics.

Momma, where are you?
 

Good eye! Yep, she's the one with the most baby bird fluff still on her head. Donna is the mad-looking one! Lol!

We just got back from church. When I say "we," I went alone and came home later for the wee ones. All the children got to take a good long look -- they loved them!

Still fighting to get food down Donna's throat with some gruel in an eyedropper. She won't open her beak today much, so very challenging.

Maxie is thriving, though. We have a good system: I put a dab of dog food on a toothpick and she opens her beak so I can place the pick way at the back of her throat. Then she closes her mouth and I remove the pick.

And get this: I even know when to hold her outside the "nest" so she can poopy! :D She doesn't like to soil her nest and tries to back up to the edge, but doesn't usually get it to fall on the outside of it. So I help her sometimes, Lol!

SIL, Lance, is outside now with Donna, hoping the parents will swoop down on the lawn and come to her aid. I think the siblings were having a skinny-dip party in a nearby puddle. Donna about went ballistic trying to get over there, but they flew off w/o her so much as a second glance. :( (Reminds me of Dr. Zhivago, when Yuri is riding a bus and sees his old girlfriend, Lara, walking down the sidewalk. He leaves the bus to follow her, but ends up clutching his heart and crumpling to the ground. Lara, blissfully unaware, continues on her merry way. :Sob: :Bawling:

I wonder if the stronger siblings intentionally pushed these two out of the nest b/c they weren't as strong. :shocked: :bump::bump:

If the parents will come to Donna's aid, we'll put Maxie out there too. I doubt there is anything they can do. Not like they can send Birdie LifeFlight down to rescue them. :rolleyes:

All I can say is AMAZING! You are such a kind hearted person. It is a lot of work too! But I can tell the reward is worth it. I had to hand feed a dying turtle every 15 mins ... she wouldn't open her mouth either!! So I can relate to that. Turtles love worms too, I have a supply here is you need some :D

as long as the parents...
 

are feeding the other young, there is a chance to reintroduce
these.

But once the parents stop (this is hormonally driven) feeding
then you are not likely to get them back together.

There are birds that are hatched that are equipped less to survive.
Of the 4 I did one was a "runt" and remained so, even with extra food and attention. He did not survive being set free either. I found him dead the next day.

So some are just not strong enough, and maybe that is why you found Maxie. I have also seen young hummingbirds that act tame and stupid at the feeder and I have seen other hummers really pick on those and attack them mercilessly.

So prepare yourself... we cannot reverse a natural weakness.

super cute!!! made me smile. Thanks for sharing! :) :) :) :)

Maxie has always been the most active of the two birdies while inside the house, but once outside they reversed roles. They are still outside on a bush right now. When I go to feed them, Donna still tries to peck the toothpick, but doesn't get much inside her beak.

Maxie willingly opens her mouth for free food. But she is very quiet and lethargic compared to Donna. I think she is the true runt and her sibling just had a bit of bad luck in the wind yesterday.

I've heard there is a new animal sanctuary just a mile from my house. If I can reach the managers, I think I may be need a "Going Out of Business" shingle very soon!

Airmail delivery!
 

I've had the little ones on the windowsill of my laundry room this afternoon. The window was open; that way the mama and papa warblers could sit on the telephone wire and keep on eye on the nest in the tree AND their little jailbirds.

I saw the parents hovering around, checking things out. Just as I walked over to feed them, Papa bird landed just outside the screen with a big fat grasshopper in his beak! :eek:

Immediately I removed the screen, but there have been no more special delivery attempts. :(

At least they tried! I wasn't sure they were all that concerned!

I wonder if they're going to slap me with a parental visitation lawsuit or something? Birdnapping maybe? :p



BTW, Donna's eating etiquette has greatly improved. She still gets it all over her beak, but at least some is making it down the throat. Her Princess attidude has lightened somewhat, too!

Maybe Bird Support?

I always thought that if you touched them, the parents would reject them. Is that true or was that some story one of my brothers told me to stop me from bring home baby animals?

I guess since Papa made an attempt, that is a good sign Twink.

That's not true. The myth started most likely because if the parents are in the nest when you try to put the chicks back in, they will attack your hand - they will peck anything that comes into the nest, and they may hit the chick.

Someone probably mistook that for the parents attacking the chicks.

Birds can not smell any better than humans can, so they will not smell it if we touch their babies any more than we'd smell it if somebody held our baby.

I've re-nested my share of sparrows, robins, black birds etc. Never had mom or dad pitch them back out lol.

I wouldn't try it with a blue jay without safety gear though.

:eek:

:D

How to tell you're NOT Mom's favorite
 

Not my birdies, but funny, just the same!

Maxie and Donna got special delivery bugs today from Mama and Papa! Yummy!

twinkie, you and everyone here has warmed my heart deeply and giving me high hopes for humanity....

to you all...

:hug:

Breakfast at Twinkletoes'
 

Can you believe I'm up before the sun this morning? *yawn* The things I do fer da birdies...Lol!

I think I've figured out why Maxie has "baby fluff" on her head. I thought it was immaturity, and that she'd lose it. Wrong! As long as she has a stronger sibling around, it will always be there. It's the "pecking order." She gets pecked!!! :eek:

Donna is aptly named. As the Prima Donna she actually "edges" Maxie around the lip of the bowl/nest so she has the better position. That puts Maxie further away from the window and less likely to get the first breakfast bug from Mom and Dad! She uses her body weight --kind of leans in with her shoulder and pushes --to get Maxie to keep moving further away. :(

So I decided to put them in separate nests this morning. Now they are beak to beak, but about 2" apart. Neither can fly, so Donna just sits there and scolds poor Maxie! Even their songs are different: Donna's is more an insistent "check!" while Maxie just pleads "pleeease, pleeease."

The amazing thing is that before I opened the window this morning, Donna was docile and I had to pick her up and reassure her before placing her on the edge of the bowl. It was Maxie that was "up and attem" and ready for breakfast! Once I threw open the sash, they did a complete role reversal!

I'm just hoping that breakfast shows up soon. Trying to let nature take its course as much as possible.

I now know what they are! They are not warblers after all! They are Western Kingbirds!

I emailed the head of the birding group for Utah, and he identified them.

At least I've been feeding them the right foods, as they are bug-eaters, not seed-eaters.

I could not believe the size of treats she brought yesterday! A big ole grasshopper (which got away as I was trying to assist with tweezers) and a giant dragonfly, which Donna was able to choke down. :eek: I swear those bugs are nearly big enough to swallow the birdies!

I must leave for work shortly, so it will be up to Mama Kingbird (Queenbird?) to take care of them. The window is open and I put a curtain rod down by their perches so she can easily reach them.

Western Kingbird
 

From Wikipedia:

The Western Kingbird (Tyrannus verticalis) is a large tyrant flycatcher.

Adults are grey-olive on the upperparts with a grey head and a dark line through the eyes; the underparts are light becoming light orange-yellow on the lower breast and belly. They have a long black tail with white outer feathers.

Their breeding habitat is open areas in western North America. They make a sturdy cup nest in a tree or shrub, sometimes on top of a pole or other man-made structure. The name kingbird is derived from their "take-charge" behavior. These birds aggressively defend their territory, even against much larger birds such as hawks.

These birds migrate in flocks to Florida and the Pacific coast of southern Mexico and Central America.

They wait on an open perch and fly out to catch insects in flight, sometimes hovering and then dropping to catch food on the ground. They also eat berries.

The song is a squeaky chatter. The call is a sharp loud whit.

WHAT!!!!????

I'm confused. Does this mean the parents now know for sure where their babies are and are coming to feed them??????

My brain done skipped a beat I think. :rolleyes:

so ... update time ... how are the babies doing today????

Yes! The parents are very aware of those babies, and do a flyby whenever they see me in the laundry room!

I'm at work--hope they are alright. Wish I had a birdiecam set up! ;)

this looks a lot like your two but its s white crested

how are the babies doing? how are you doing twink

2 Birds in the Bush
 

It sure does, Frank! Lots of downy fluff on that one.


I'm doing fine, thanks. Babies are getting big and have been stretching their wings.

This morning I opened the laundry room window so the birdies could get their breakfast delivered by Mama bird. Well, I was trying to get their little tail feathers clean and one popped right out the window. Oops! She had a safe landing and I brought her back in.

Then, the other one decided to fly to a nearby pine tree! :eek: Donna is more developed, so I thought I'd let her stay there for the day while I went to work.

Then my grandson called and said she had flown back in! He was gone when I found the 2nd one (Sat. night), so was totally amazed that we had 2!

Later on Donna flew away again and Maxie soon followed. I looked and looked for both of them. Finally found Maxie in the snowball bush, so brought her in for the night. I imagine she'll be out the window again tomorrow, but she's not as strong, so thought she could use one more night at the B&B.

Interestingly enough (at least to me :rolleyes:), the parents gave me clues where their baby was. They are so territorial that whenever I'd get close to Maxie, they'd swoop down and chatter like crazy. When I'd walk away, they'd calm down.

So it was like playing a game of "hot and cold." "You're getting hotter," their chatter would tell me! And sure enough, there she was, just sitting quietly. She voiced her objection that I caught her, but decided it was okay when I brought her in and fed her some juicy mealworms. *yeeeck* And the pet shop lady said to be sure to cut their heads off so they couldn't eat thru some organ and perforate the birdie's insides! :eek:

So, I imagine this will be the last night I have a birdie in my laundry room. I have really enjoyed learning about them and noting their differences. Time to cut the apron strings!

They grow up so fast..One day your forcing breakfast down their throats, the next they leave the nest and are out on their own..And they NEVER call..
I've really enjoyed reading about your bird adventures, Twink..They are two very lucky little birdies to have landed in your yard!

:eek: I'm not awake yet....I had to read that sentence a couple of times to realize that you were talking about the WORMS!!! :o

I am so glad to read that you
 

were able to get the babes back to their parents.

This is the best way to insure that they learn how to find food
themselves!

We can always tell where our one cat is roaming (in the adjacent woods around us)... The birds make a specific sound
that we call the "bad cat" sound... like a TICK TICK. Also the Chickadees do a long call DEE DEE DEE.. up to nine times, as a warning. The blue jays do a screeeeeee screeech. And the cat bird (related to the robin) actually meows! That is why people named them cat birds. Cat birds are all gray but large like robins, so you rarely see them--they are in bushes alot. But we sure HEAR them!

I read a book once that said the long 9 DEE DEE call alerts other bird species. That they depend on the Chickadee to warn because the Chickadee is so quick and agile.
The Chickadees use our self watering dish up NOrth for their baths! The sun comes around about 3pm and warms the water and they all come and take a bath in it. Typically going DEE DEE DEE all the time. The cats are usually taking a nap then. We wondered for a long time why the water bottle was becoming empty in just one day...then we saw the reason!
The other reason was a HUGE toad who was climbing into the dish before dawn...taking a bath. I got a picture of this, so I will put it up here. I had just got this new digital camera (a first for us) and it takes pictures IN THE DARK.... my husband discovered this by accident, doing a bathroom visit, he decided to check the boat and the tie ups, and when he came back to the house (this watering dish is on the front steps) he saw the toad. It was about 4am. So we both tried to catch him and I finally did about a week later, and tried the camera. It worked! I was so excited, since I am not that great with cameras!...

So I set up another larger birdbath (the pic I put up with the warblers for you on the other thread), and that one is getting more action now. Between the mad chickadees and the toad that water would empty in ONE day! LOLOLOL

lol twink when you push them out of the nest you dont mess around, that was funny to read, glad all is well



tweet

Twink I swear you should write a book. You have such a way with words! What fun this has been reading about your adventures. I'm just so surprised at the parents figuring out where the babies were. How clever of you to put them where you did!

Mrs. D your stories are so great as well, and yes you do too take good pictures!

Mrs. D, when are you leaving on your vacation? AND when will you be coming back? We'll all miss you. Too bad you don't have internet capabilities where you are going.

our target date was Saturday, but Weather.com is showing storms on that date..and we just won't arrive by boat and
shlep all that stuff in slippery weather. It is a nightmare to arrive in rain. So hubby is thinking Monday now, since the marina closes early on Sun, and he wants it to be open when we arrive. duh! The whole move is rather nervewracking and it wears on him more than on me. So I will defer to him.

You know getting all the electronic stuff together and their cords, and batteries and recharging stuff--that alone is a huge detailed mess. :thud: We take stuff in to recharge often to the marina who lets us have their electricity! I also do some at the laundromat! ;) The library told us they might have wifi this year...hope hope.. Last year the two wifis were down alot and we seemed to hit the down times every time! There is always a chance things will be better! ;)

At least I can use the laptop for the photos.

just watch out for this dude>>>>http://www.nonstick.com/wpics/sf_beaky.jpg