What to feed young crow (1 Viewer)

[slipe]

I live in the Tampa Bay area on a barrier island. A pair of crows raised a litter in a tall Washingtonian palm in my back yard. Two left the nest and evidently flew away. A third fluttered to the ground and has been hopping around on the ground for three days. We have some aggressive neighborhood cats from which I often find piles of bird feathers. Yesterday I put the young crow in a tree but he fell out trying to climb higher and spent the rest of the day trying to get back in the banyan tree. Today I brought him in the house as I know the cats would finish him if I didn’t.

The problem is that I can’t get him to eat. I assume he regularly got pieces of chicken hot dog as I fed those to the parents who returned to the nest – presumably to pass them on. The young crow has also passed up pieces of granola bar. I either have to get him back outside so the parents can feed him but where the cats will probably eat him. Or get him to eat.

Does anyone have any suggestions what I might feed a young crow? The bird isn’t small – it just can’t fly more than a yard or so. Since its siblings left days ago I’m also considering that it might be a slightly retarded young crow. Since I have watched them from babyhood I don’t want to see the little guy end up as cat food. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[slipe]

Well – I had to put Junior back in the yard this morning. He found a front window and his parents found him. They sat just outside the window and screamed for a couple of hours. Junior wouldn’t take food or water and I felt with the parents in sight he wasn’t likely to take anything from me.

The parents are much more attentive since the birdnapping. I had to lead them from the front to where I had put Junior on the back deck balcony. They returned to the front, so I had to lead them to Junior again, who had fluttered from the balcony back to the yard. Once they started attacking my head I felt they had located Junior.

They drove off Zsa Zsa, my great egret this morning. They had driven off Buba, my heron, a couple weeks ago. The herons will eat anything, so they took him on early. They had left Zsa Zsa and Herbie (my snowy egret) alone until the birdnapping. I can’t get near Junior without a full blown attack by the parents, so he might survive learning to fly.

The two siblings have also stayed nearby, but they don’t aggressively protect Junior like the parents. I’ve developed a healthy respect for crows.