Here is the amazingly beautiful story that is sure to put a smile on your face:
Day
1 – Here is the little chick on the first day. My brother had been out
jogging, and found it on the sidewalk. It was actually still attached to
part of its shell and some dried membranes. Clearly freshly hatched, we
were unable to locate the nest in the group of trees above us. **NOTE**
if you find a bird this young, it is best to try to locate the nest and
put it back in. There is a myth that you can’t touch a baby bird,
because the parents will reject it due to the smell of humans. PLEASE
don’t try this at home! This is not meant as a guide, but more to show
you the amazing development and growth of songbirds. Wildlife
rehabilitation should only be carried out by those licensed to do so!
Day
2 – Aren’t baby birds cute in an ugly kind of way? We kept the chick in
an incubator, carefully controlling the humidity and temperature. We
decided she was a she (though we were never able to find out if it was
male or female), and called her “Dumpling.” All baby birds look very
similar, so we had no way to really know what kind of bird this was.
We’d have to wait and see how she grew, and what her feathers looked
like.
Day
3 – Baby birds eat a lot! We fed this chick primarily with crickets,
mealworms, waxworms, caught insects, and a commercially available liquid
formula for chicks. We fed the chick every 30 minutes for 14 hours/day,
simulating what she would get in the wild. Just imagine what that
means! This was just one chick, and most songbird broods will have
anywhere from 2 – 5 chicks. The amount of insects songbird parents need
to catch to feed their chicks (and themselves) is a bit staggering when
you think about it. Since the parents don’t feed their chicks overnight,
we didn’t either. This is opposed to many mammalian babies that need to
be fed regularly around the clock.
Day
4 – You can see here the amazing development of the wing feathers in
just a few days’ time. Also, she had a hilarious wispy mohawk of down
feathers that got even more ridiculous when she got a little older. She
would start squawking to be fed every 30-45 minutes. An interesting
note: instincts are fascinating with these animals. Even with the poor
coordination and closed eyes, this chick knew enough to back up to the
edge of the nest we made for her and poop over the side, so as to not
dirty the nest.
Day
5 – By day 5, Dumpling was able to sit more “sternal” (on her chest
with the legs tucked under her body) with more stability. Look at the
changes in the feathers in just another 24 hours! She is actually
starting to look like a bird! Her eyes were starting to open just a
little bit by this time, as well.
Day
6 – Here is a nice shot of the amazing continued development of her
wing feathers. You can see them encased in a cornified sheath. Once the
feather gets to its final size, this sheath disintegrates and the
feather is allowed to spread open.
Day
7 – Overnight, all of the feather sheaths fell away and -tada!- we have
a bird! You can see here as well that she has a bent lateral toe on her
left leg. Not much to be done about that in a bird this small, and it
really didn’t slow her down at all.
Day 8 – “FEED ME!!” At this point, she was eating 3 large crickets +/- waxworms at every feeding.
Day
9 – By this time, we were able to stop using the incubator. Since her
body was covered in feathers, she was able to regulate her body heat on
her own. The tufts of chick fluff and the eternally grumpy expression
that baby birds have was hilarious.
Day
10 – We moved her into more of a conventional cage, and gave her more
materials to explore. She was really happy, despite her expression.
Day
11 – She was able to officially perch for the first time! Definitely a
big step in the right direction. She doesn’t have much of a tail yet, so
her balance isn’t great, but she had a really strong grip and could
hold herself up there very well, bad toe and all.
Day
12 – She was a very sweet little bird, and enjoyed perching on our
hands, early on. You can see some sprouting millet seeds in the
background, which we added to her diet to continue to increase the
variety of food she was exposed to. By this point, we actually didn’t
have to feed her as often. We would hand feed her every 1-2 hours, and
place worms in the cage for her to forage for in between times.
Day
13 – Almost 2 weeks from hatching, and she is now perching very well!
You can see that her strength and balance has improved even compared to
Day 11. Her legs are more upright, showing a better perching posture.
This “hocks up” posture is very characteristic of 14-day old songbird
chicks, so she is right on schedule.
Day
14 – She is starting to look more mature. That hilarious baby down is
disappearing. Now that she is over 2 weeks old, I’ll start skipping
days.
Day
17 – Here she is in a larger cage that she graduated to. We put in
freshly cut branches so she can have a variety of perching options, and
can explore the leaves and twigs like she would in the wild. By this
point, she is hopping and flying around the cage like a professional.
**NOTE** Any of you with pet birds, it is very important to have a
variety of perches. The best ones are branches you cut yourself from
non-toxic trees. It’s great, healthy enrichment for your pets!
Day
22 – We started placing her cage out on the deck to get her exposed to
the wind, the sun and other birds. This is important for socialization
and training. Other birds would come to the feeders and interact with
her, and she could watch them and learn their songs.
Day
23 – This is one of my favorite pictures of her, showing her
wonderfully patterned feathers. By this point, we decided she was likely
a White Crowned Sparrow or Chipping Sparrow. WCS is a species of bird
that is common around here, but you don’t see them often because they
don’t come to bird feeders regularly. Chipping Sparrows are very common,
but there were a few pictures of juveniles that didn’t match well with
her. Both are a migratory species, traveling south for the winter. We
were hoping to get her fit for release in plenty of time to make that
trip.
Day
25 – Another lovely side view of her, showing her feather patterning.
It provides for great camouflage as they flit among the trees.
Day
27 – By this time, she was completely off of eating crickets (showed
absolutely no interest in them), and her diet was more seed and
worm-based. She was also eating on her own, completely. She actually
didn’t let us feed her anymore, which was a good sign.
Day
29 – She loved all of the new leafy branches we’d put in for her. A
large part of their diet in the wild is tree buds, and she’d go after
those immediately whenever we put fresh branches in for her.
Day
33 – At this point, she was essentially releasable. However, there were
some expected storms rolling in over the next few days, so we decided
to keep her for a few days longer to give her the best chance.
Day
36, Release Day – After storms the night before, Day 36 dawned
beautifully. Confident that the weather was going to be nice for several
days, and that the recent rainfall would give her plenty of drinking
and feeding opportunities, we decided this would be the perfect day to
send her on her way! We drove to a nearby nature preserve about a mile
from where she was initially found and where we knew there to be others
of her kind.
Bye
Bye, Dumpling! – We opened the cage door and stepped back. After a few
minutes, she hopped out and flitted immediately up into a tree. She
didn’t hesitate at all. She immediately started exploring the branches,
biting at tree buds and hopping from branch-to-branch like a wild bird.
Pretty soon, we lost sight of her.
It should be noted that the rearing of any wildlife can be difficult, and should only be undertaken by those trained (and licensed, in many cases) to do so. Many animals, especially migratory birds, are protected under federal law, and it is illegal to have them in your care without the proper permits. If you find any injured or sick wildlife, your best bet is to look for a local wildlife rehabilitation organization.
Source: imgur