Raising a Starling (1 Viewer)

Hi all. A friend of ours brought us some baby starlings that had been attacked by her cat. Their mother did not survive, and neither did 2 of the other babies. Only one made it. The one that did is doing great. It has been a couple of weeks and his/her feathers have grown in, and he/she is now flying in short bursts. My question is how to I prepare this bird to be released? He has started to peck and grab at things, so I believe he is ready to learn how to start feeding him/herself. How do I ensure this bird will be able to take care of itself when he is ready to leave the house? Thank you for any help in advance.

Hi Rukie and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum :t:

Not sure if you are keeping it in a cage but you might want to start putting him in a cage with an open door on your back porch. This is what I did when I was releasing a Starling a couple of years back. It also had been injured by a cat. For a couple of days, it would fly out and then return and on the third day he/she flew out and never came back

Thanks thats great advice...we have done that with another baby bird of a different species that we raised, but I wasn't sure if starlings would be the same. I appreciate the help.

I found a nestling laying on its back in the parking lot at work yesterday. A tenant had found it in his furnace (!), where the nest had fallen in during a storm. He laid it in the gravel on his way out to work.

The various nature centers and parks I've reached out to have advised that the best thing for it is to reunite with its mother. Since I can't access the roof of the apartment building, they instructed me how to build a faux nest which is now securely tied on the side of the building with our little guy inside.

He's out there now, chirping for dear life. His mother hasn't returned yet. (Please, please, please come back!)

If she hasn't visited the nest by 6pm I'm going to bring him back in.

I think I'm going to need a Plan B and have absolutely no idea what it might be. I need your advice.

Some more info:

1. He has probably 2/3 of his feathers. His back end is still somewhat bald.

2. I've been having as little contact with him as possible so he doesn't imprint (not sure if that's a concern or not, but just in case). He's been in a box with paper towel bedding, over which I draped a towel. When I feed him I pull the towel back just enough to be able to get the meal worms in his mouth.

3. He's been eating 7-10 mealworms every 45 minutes or so from about 8am-8pm. No feeding at night.

4. I'm located in NE Ohio.

Any and all suggestions are sincerely appreciated.

Mary

SUCCESS!!!

I just witnessed a foster mom put her head in the nesting box. I'm so relieved, but of course now all sorts of questions and nagging doubts come flooding in.

Today's temp is very chilly, 60, with a strong breeze. Do I leave the baby out tonight? He's in a milk carton, which is just waxed cardboard, with some grass clippings for bedding. With no nestmates, and presumably no parent for warmth, I'm worried he might freeze. Tonight's temp is expected to be in the 40s.

I'm absolutely thrilled this may work out for the little guy. To be honest, I had no expectation it would. Please post your suggestions and opinions. Thanks!

I don't pretend to be an expert or anything, so you might want to wait for someone else to answer, but I'd say if a bird has returned to take care of him, it's best to leave him where he is.

Thank you, Rukie. That's exactly what the nature center just told me. They said there's a chance that one of the foster parents will nest with it tonight and any disturbance might scare them away.

I'd just feel better if I knew it was going to be okay. In case you haven't noticed I have a tendency to worry too much. lol

At some point you have to say "I did my best," and let nature take its course but there's often a short circuit between my head and heart ... especially when it involves helpless creatures.

Thanks again.

Yes. Now it's time to step back and let nature takes its course.

BTW, Welcome to BirdForum.,

I wanted to post an update for the benefit of anyone in the future googling for information because they've found themselves in a similar situation.

The elation we felt when the foster mother visited the faux nest was short lived. She made only one more visit during the orphan's many hours on the ledge. The second visit was apparently more out of curiosity as she arrived sans food.

Due to these poor results we did further research. I would advise anyone who's been told that foster parenting is a common starling behavior and that such fostering is beneficial for all birds involved to view it as the misinformed junk science that it is. It is neither common nor beneficial for any of the birds involved. Orphans can and will starve or freeze. Babies in the primary nest that literally have the food taken out of their mouths do suffer the effects.

Thanks to a website dedicated solely to starlings I was able to find the help we sought. Out of respect to birdforum I won't post a link but if you send me a private message I'll send it to you.

Rukie,

You should not release your hand raised starling as he will be unable to fend for himself in the wild. Please email me at stanleystosh at gmail dot com and I will send you a link to starling experts who will help you.

Mary