Little bird?

[ROCKIT]

Came home tonight and found this at the bottom of the patio windows!!
Besides feeling guilty that the thing had flown into my windows and died as a result, it had me intrigued.
I though at first it was a Goldcrest, but it has no stripe at all on its bonce!
It does have slight gold/yellow colouring under its wings and it is extremely small!
Anyone able to identify it? (Don't please tell me its a dead bird!!)

 

[Polyanwood]

Is it a wren?

 

[ROCKIT]

I don't think so.
Its tail doesn't kick up like a Wren, and it really is small. Different shape aswell.
It has no markings on its feathers only a light grey chest with a slight yellow tinge under its wings. Its back is a dark olive green, with no visible strakes or markings.
Its body is only around 1 3/4" long plus a head and its tail.

 

[biglongdarren]

young Chiffchaff or Willow Warbler?

 

[ROCKIT]

young Chiffchaff or Willow Warbler?

Could be either I guess, but all its feathers, beak,feet etc look perfectly formed!
I just thought it was mighty small, and looked fully developed.
Weighs next to nothing! 6-7 grams or 0.2 oz's

 

[ROCKIT]

My guess is Willow Warbler.

Spent a couple of busy weeks recently bringing up these little orphans.

Started with five little pink things, two of which were damaged by the dog that pulled there nest out of a hedge, one other died of what I suspected was brain damage, and these two lucky little punks were adopted by a male Blackbird that took them for two of his own!

 

[Foxylad]

Dead bird is a Reed Warbler.

The live chicks in the bottom picture look like black bird chicks. It seems to be confirmed when a black bird was feeding them.

Why are they in your house? Would it of not been more appropriate to allow the parent birds to continue raising the chicks, even if they were on the ground?

 

[ROCKIT]

Dead bird is a Reed Warbler.

The live chicks in the bottom picture look like black bird chicks. It seems to be confirmed when a black bird was feeding them.

Why are they in your house? Would it of not been more appropriate to allow the parent birds to continue raising the chicks, even if they were on the ground?

When next doors dog destroyed the nest they were in, the Blackbirds were a day or two old, they were very small, pink, (read no feathers) and were spread across the lawn. They had a zero chance of survival. As they were so young and small they would have chilled that night. The neighbour rang me and asked what he should do. I knew that I had a nest in a bush at the bottom of my garden, but when I went to look the nest was empty.
Hence the reason they spent almost two weeks living in an old propogator. Once they had feathers and a bit of a chirrup, I hoped they would be OK.
I then made a fine mesh 'run' up by the bushes in my garden and the alternative foster parent that was attracted to them, thought they were his own! The neighbour lives 500yards away so this wouldn't have been the original parent!
Believe me, If there was anyway that the original parents could have looked after them, I would have put them back were they came from!
I could of course just left nature to take its course, or let the dog eat them!

 

[Luminos]

When next doors dog destroyed the nest they were in, the Blackbirds were a day or two old, they were very small, pink, (read no feathers) and were spread across the lawn. They had a zero chance of survival. As they were so young and small they would have chilled that night. The neighbour rang me and asked what he should do. I knew that I had a nest in a bush at the bottom of my garden, but when I went to look the nest was empty.
Hence the reason they spent almost two weeks living in an old propogator. Once they had feathers and a bit of a chirrup, I hoped they would be OK.
I then made a fine mesh 'run' up by the bushes in my garden and the alternative foster parent that was attracted to them, thought they were his own! The neighbour lives 500yards away so this wouldn't have been the original parent!
Believe me, If there was anyway that the original parents could have looked after them, I would have put them back were they came from!
I could of course just left nature to take its course, or let the dog eat them!

Well done you!

 

[biglongdarren]

great work,i never thought this sort of thing could be done.
Darren.

 

[freethorpe bees]

wonderful work - well done you !

 

[ROCKIT]

great work,i never thought this sort of thing could be done.
Darren.

I had no choice but to give it a go.
There is a lot of work with continuous feeding and cleaning.
I used a mixture of dog/cat food, cut up worms, meal worms, dead maggots (heads cut off) and anything I could find that looked like it was edible. Used a pair of blunted tweezers to feed them. The moisture they need is derived from the food they eat, so no water.
I thought they were great tits when I first got them, so when they went brown as the feathers arrived I was really chuffed (as a parent would be!) that they were strong little Blackbirds.

I was truly amazed that the male Blackbird started to feed them through the pen sides, I thought it was attacking them first of all, but it was what I was hoping for. Two days of feeding from the parent and I let them go!

 

[Hivemaker.]

The small dead bird has a slightly flat beek......i think it's a Duck.

Way too small to be a Goose.

 

[ROCKIT]

Just found this picture.
Here they are a couple of days after I got them, they had opened there eyes at this stage.

You can just see the two that were damaged in the bottom of the box, I just knew thay wouldn't survive.

 

[drstitson]

the missus hand reared some bluetits a few years back - well i say hand reared - once they got big enough they sat on her shoulder and she fed them mealworms etc by mouth like their mummy does.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It's hard work,mind.
When I was working I and the nurses used to rear all kinds; birds,dormice,hedgehogs, foxes ......(ouch) and a badger cub once.
I'm looking after a stunned woodpigeon and have reared a jackdaw this year. My vet up here charges for looking at wildlife and then won't look after it if needs be.
I never charged and took in everything.
I'll end up with a wildlife hospital unless I keep my head down with the neighbours

 

[ROCKIT]

It had a headache aswell Pete!

 

[Hivemaker.]

It had a headache aswell Pete!

I bet it did,must of been a fair quack on the head to kill it.

 

[ROCKIT]

Happens quite often here!

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/window-crash-owl-leaves-imprint-113040360.html

 

[peteinwilts]

well done! I would not advertise it too much though as it is not legal to keep native birds without a license.

banging into window panes is very common, and many birds recover quite well.

If a bird of prey, or any other bird that hunts on the wing bumps into a window the chance of them surviving in the wild is slim.
Where we have muscles and flesh controlling our eyes, birds of prey have eyeballs that are sat in a cushion of fluid. A sharp bump dislodges the eye in the fluid and the bird of prey cannot focus and therefore cannot hunt anything but the easiest of meals. This normally results in starvation.

If found, Birds of prey that have bumped into windows can be taken to a specialist vet or bird of prey clinic, and if it survives will enter a breeding program... a much more preferable existance than slow starvation!