HELP! NEWBIE - baby bird found

[equigal]

Hello everyone - Ive just found this forum and joined as Im in need of some expert advice.

Today I found a wee baby in my horses stable, it had fallen from the nest, but its too high up for me to reach/climb. It was very weak, and on first sight I noticed a tiny amount of blood in the corner of its beak, I gave it a little water, from the end of my finger..just a drop or two, and since then its perked up. I have also fed it a red worm from the muckheap, as they are thin enough for its little mouth.

I have now brought it home in a makeshift nest, and am keeping it warm and dry. I have never done thsi before and need to know if Im doing the right thing - or is anyone of you in manchester who can help me out or take it on??

I was told its a sparrow, however its beak is quite wide and has yellow corners, like a blackbird, but the colour of it isnt black. It has immature feather on its wings and back, but still bald on the underside.

I really want to give this bird a chance, since its been here, its poo'ed once and seems more aware. However Im willing to do whatever is best for the little thing. I cant tell if it has any injury from its fall, but it did fall on my horses bed of straw, rather than the concrete....

can anyone help please ...??

[Kezza]

Hi equigal, welcome to birdforum. :hi:

As you are unable to return the bird to the nest and it is clearly to young to leave, the best thing you can do is get it to a wildlife rescue centre immediately. Try calling this one:

Wood Cottage Sanctuary, Alkrington Woods, Middleton, Manchester
0161 654 8278

If you don't have any luck there, please ring this 24 hour helpline 01844 292 292. It is for a rescue centre called Tiggywinkles, they will give you advise and hopefully an address for you to take it to.

This link is to a 'baby bird' help page on their website:
http://www.sttiggywinkles.org.uk/

Good luck, please let us know how you get on.

[equigal]

thank you Kezza,
I'll get onto it right away and let you know.

[Kezza]

Great! Hope you have some success with them. By the way, it could be a sparrow or perhaps a swallow. The babys have yellow corners to their beaks that disappear when they grow up.

[equigal]

thank you,

I actually took a pic but I dont know how to put it on here,

the link is:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v619/colouredcobs/Misc/sparky1.jpg

(the kids wanted to name it sparky lol)

[Kezza]

Cute! How did you get on with the rescue places?
I would say it probably is a sparrow, hope it survives. May need care for a few weeks until it can fend for itself.

By the way, you can attach photos to a message by clicking on the "manage attachments" link in the section below where you type a message.

Please keep us updated. :t:

[KnockerNorton]

It's a house sparrow.

[equigal]

Well I got advice from an online bird rescue..and was told its best to take the fledgling back to where its nest was (its very high up in my horses stable)

so I kept it in my little nest box, under the real nest, as near as I could. The mother kept flying by and calling, the fledgling was calling out to it aswell, so I left the stable and left the birds to it.

I later checked and baby was still there. When I came to leaving the farm I wondered what would be best for it, as I was worried about the yard cat and after my efforts last night I didnt want it to be breakfast.

Just as I said this - I noticed the cat approaching, so I ran to chase it away (the baby wasnt easily seen but this is a farm cat)
The cat scarpered but when I looked in the box, s/he had gone :(
The cat took it near my car, so I went over to chase it off...the baby looked up and gaped..then called at me...the cat then swiped it quickly and whisked it off into the field...Im absolutely devastated..Im wondering if I had left it at home it would still be alive. I feel so guilty....Im 27 and been crying over a bird!
Ive told my 2 kids that 'Sparky' has gone back to his mummy in the nest...cant bear the thought of telling them the truth.
Thank you everyone for your advice, Im still really upset by it all.

I was up at 2am, 4am, and fed the last time at 8:30am....then went to the yard after school. I wanted him/her to call out whn hungry in the hope that its mum would feed it.

I feel such a failure - sorry everyone :(

[Chris Oates]

I feel such a failure - sorry everyone :(

It's nature at work - the cat got a meal.
Birds produce many more young than is needed to maintain the population and will sometimes cull their own weaker offspring.

[KnockerNorton]

You did the best thing, by giving it a 2nd chance with its parents able to feed it. You can't win them all (to win a few is a victory when it comes to wild bird waifs and strays). It wasn't realistic to keep it and try to rear it.

[Kezza]

Thank you everyone for your advice, Im still really upset by it all.
I feel such a failure - sorry everyone :(

Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. If you had done nothing and left it when it fell in the straw the cat would have got it then too. By placing it higher in the stable you did what you could and gave it a chance.
It is very sad but as mentioned by others, many birds die young, that's why they produce so many.
Hope you and your children can enjoy watching the rest of the brood grow up and if they believe one of them is 'Sparky' then that's not necessarily a bad thing, they will have learnt that returning a baby to it's parents is the best thing to do.
P.S. I know it may not be yours, but buy that cat a bell for its birthday!!

[Gaz Shilton]

It's nature at work - the cat got a meal.
Birds produce many more young than is needed to maintain the population and will sometimes cull their own weaker offspring.

Stoat/Weasel/Sparrowhawk etc. is nature.......CAT is just an unwanted pest in the natural world as far as I am concerned.

[equigal]

Thank you everyone for your kind words.

I suppose it wouldve been easier for me if I didnt see it happen..I could have left it to imagination and 'hoped' he got back with his mum!
Because it happened right in front of me I felt guilty that I LET it happen to 'sparky'.

I feel better today though - but that cat hasnt come near me today - it got a bucket of water on it when it came back for seconds!
Maybe I'll stay on here now and learn more about the avian world :D