Hi all,
About 3 days ago a member of the public came to the rescue and handed in a house sparrow fledgling. It is in perfect condition and genuinely should not have been taken or disturbed, despite the public's best intentions. As a fosterer I have ended up with the bird to wean what little left is needed so it can be released.
As you can imagine this baby bird is rearing to go. They are fully flighted, fully wild, and very aware that they are a sparrow and that humans are not their friends. But I'd say they were at the stage where they would naturally be flying following their parents and still getting fed by them for the next couple of weeks, watching where their parents feed and learning how to do so themselves.
Here's where my problem lays. It is very easy to teach a bird that is more used to your presence how to self feed, because you can mimic pecking into the food for the baby bird to follow. But this guy is literally 100% wild and free. I'd very much like to release them ASAP but cannot until I have proof that they can self forage. And as of the last 3 days I've had them I've been force feeding them the entire time. Unpleasant for everyone involved, but the only way to keep them strong and fit for release. I can't sit back and mimic pecking the plate like with other rescues because they go into a panicked frenzy every time I enter the room. Not even trying to give feed on tongs works because they just panic fly everywhere, the only way we've gotten food into them is to restrain them and then present tong feeds. As such, I'm struggling to think of ways to teach this very ready to go bird how to take their own chances at free pecking. They have plenty to choose from, from seeds to live insects in shallow tubs, but no success as of yet. They're near the pigeon enclosure who are always noisily chuntering away eating from their bowl, so there is at least some example going on most of the day within view of the sparrow, but I don't have any other babies old enough to present example of eating by themselves for them to mimic.
Suggestions? There was no need to bring this poor fledgling in sadly but the public often aren't aware of this, they would have been just fine following their parents to feed but as we were given them without much other choice it's just something we have to deal with ourselves.
About 3 days ago a member of the public came to the rescue and handed in a house sparrow fledgling. It is in perfect condition and genuinely should not have been taken or disturbed, despite the public's best intentions. As a fosterer I have ended up with the bird to wean what little left is needed so it can be released.
As you can imagine this baby bird is rearing to go. They are fully flighted, fully wild, and very aware that they are a sparrow and that humans are not their friends. But I'd say they were at the stage where they would naturally be flying following their parents and still getting fed by them for the next couple of weeks, watching where their parents feed and learning how to do so themselves.
Here's where my problem lays. It is very easy to teach a bird that is more used to your presence how to self feed, because you can mimic pecking into the food for the baby bird to follow. But this guy is literally 100% wild and free. I'd very much like to release them ASAP but cannot until I have proof that they can self forage. And as of the last 3 days I've had them I've been force feeding them the entire time. Unpleasant for everyone involved, but the only way to keep them strong and fit for release. I can't sit back and mimic pecking the plate like with other rescues because they go into a panicked frenzy every time I enter the room. Not even trying to give feed on tongs works because they just panic fly everywhere, the only way we've gotten food into them is to restrain them and then present tong feeds. As such, I'm struggling to think of ways to teach this very ready to go bird how to take their own chances at free pecking. They have plenty to choose from, from seeds to live insects in shallow tubs, but no success as of yet. They're near the pigeon enclosure who are always noisily chuntering away eating from their bowl, so there is at least some example going on most of the day within view of the sparrow, but I don't have any other babies old enough to present example of eating by themselves for them to mimic.
Suggestions? There was no need to bring this poor fledgling in sadly but the public often aren't aware of this, they would have been just fine following their parents to feed but as we were given them without much other choice it's just something we have to deal with ourselves.
