Two more

This time I got a call about some baby Northern Flickers that were found on the ground under the nest hole and they were dead. It was at YVI near Wapiti so I hauled my extension ladder there and climbed up to see how many of the others were alive. There were a total of six chicks and only these two were still alive. Both of them are red-shafted and probably only 2-3 weeks old.

Right now they're a bit traumatised and leery of me. I did get some mealworms down them and hopefully by tomorrow afternoon they'll start begging to be fed so I don't have to open their mouths to feed them. They are in a box with a piece of bark on the outside. There is a natural hole in it as you can see on the inside. This way they'll feel secure.

Babies everywhere....

I haven't received many songbirds in the past years but this year changed all that. These photos show my kitchen counters filled with baby cages. And in my north room is the container holding the seven newly hatched pheasants.

On the counter, from left to right, in a small box, is a baby Brewer's Blackbird, about four days old. In the round cage there are four starlings who were found in the front end of a fifth wheel when the owners went to move it. Then comes the large blue crate. Those are the two kittens I'm fostering for our animal shelter. They were 3.5 weeks old when I got them, now are eight weeks and waiting for their forever home. A girl and boy, spayed and neutered, who will be wonderful pets for anyone.

Then on top of their crate is a cage with two Robins and three Brewer's Blackbirds. They will be ready for release possibly in this next week. Seems all I do is stuff bugs, worms, seed food and fruit into open mouths every time I turn around.

And of course there's the eight Mallard ducklings out in the rodent/cage room..........

Another first

Today I received a species of bird I've never had. This is an adult male Lazuli Bunting, one of the most colorful of our songbirds. He was found about seven miles up the Southfork Road unable to fly far or high. I can't see anything wrong with his wings so he'll stay here until he has enough strength to make it back in the wild.

It's a lousy photo because just as he got in a good position, and I pressed the button on the camera, he'd move or the camera would hesitate before clicking the shutter. I'll include a good photo of this type of bunting for you to see what how beautiful they are.

The second trip was also to Powell, this time for what I was told was a woodpecker that couldn't fly. When I arrived at the home the owners had the bird in a box which was the right thing to do. Surprise! When I peeked in it wasn't a woodpecker but an adult starling. He did have some blood on its beak. I believe the bird hit a window and was only dazed. I checked him out and opened my hand. He flew off and hopefully won't do that again.

Back home again

Thanks to Quintin Blair, the younger, two baby sparrows are back in their nest way up in the Holiday Inn sign. Found on the ground, and much too young to be there, Quin called me for help. When I saw where the nest is located he volunteered to make the climb and replace them in their nest. It's right in front of him behind the zig-zag post he's hanging on to. There were others in the nest so the replaced babies had company. Thanks to Quin for making this possible. He carried them up there in the paper bag.

Mystery solved....

At least I think it is. I got a call from a family here in town to come take away some eggs in a nest. Unfortunately it was in a bush right below a window next to the front door and the husband is deathly afraid of birds. The adults were a bit upset when I got near the site. They are Brewer's Blackbirds but I was shocked when I saw the eggs.

As far as I can tell, the three larger, bluish speckled ones are theirs, the smaller, lighter ones appear to be Brown-headed Cowbird eggs. That species are parasitic layers, putting them in the nest of other birds. Then when they hatch the foster parents raise them as their own. The bad news is that baby cowbirds instinctively shove other babies or eggs out of the nest so they are the only occupants left to be fed.

And another......

Yes, another 25 mile drive to Powell to pick up another baby songbird. And again, I have no idea what species this is, it's quite young, perhaps only 2-3 days old and weak. It was found in the middle of a tennis court in Lovell so finding the nest was impossible. Perhaps a predator bird took it from the nest and then dropped it as it flew. We'll never know but hopefully this little baby will live.

More wee babies

Four days ago I was called about some baby birds found after a tree had been cut down. I still don't know exactly what species they are but believe they're some kind of finch. They're eating wonderfully and growing feathers.

Then this morning I got a call from a gentleman up the Southfork saying his dog found another baby bird. This time I'm about 100% sure it's a baby horned lark. Unfortunately it's not old enough to be on its own so is now snuggled down with the three finches. As they are all seed eaters they're also sharing the same food.

The lark is the one on the left with all the teeny spots. A bit older but still quickly opened its beak when the syringe came near. When these babies are ready to go I'll take the finches to the Neal's yard for release, the most perfect place for any bird to live. The lark will be released here as they prefer more open habitat.

What is it?

I got a call a few days ago from Curt in Lusk, WY about a tiny bird he found upside down in the snow at his ranch. Lusk is over 300 miles east and south of me and they had gone from 80 degrees to two feet of snow. I was at a loss as to what species of bird this was so sent feelers out to friends who have a lot of bird knowledge.

Today I got the answer from my expert, Doug Faulkner, in Colorado. It's a juvenile Horned Lark! I rarely get these birds let alone a young one but should have figured it out myself. As the weather in Lusk was supposed to greatly improve the next day I told Curt to take the youngster outside when the sun was out and place him in one of his open sheds where other birds were congregating. Hopefully all went well.

Brilliant colors

I got a call today from a lady in town who has an injured pet bird. I don't usually work on anything but wild birds but said I would help PETER if I could. This is one of the most beautiful finches in the world, a Lady Gouldian. He and his brother were perched for the night when they were suddenly scared. Their dashing around the cage resulted in this bird losing a lot of the flight feathers on his left wing and causing damage to his left foot. I put a small bandage on it in hopes he will regain use of the toes.

Spring is here ! ! !

Just as I got back from my walk down the road I heard what I feel is the best sign of Spring arriving. A meadowlark was on one of my fence posts singing his heart out to find a lady love. How sweet it is.

The word is out....

When an injured bird comes to this facility it's either driven here by the finder or I go out to rescue it. Not this time. This time it came by itself for help.

I had a TV repairman here and when we were leaving the house it was an amazing sight! Sitting on my picket fence front gate was this beautiful Yellow Rumped Warbler. I've never seen one before and have no idea where it came from. The repairman said he thought he'd heard a bird hit one of my windows so perhaps that accounts for it.

He's inside a cage right now taking it easy and hopefully will be releasable in a short time. Usually if they're not killed or broken it only takes some quiet time for a bird to recover from a window strike.

UPDATE: It's been three hours and the little warbler is flying in the cage so I immediately took him outside and opened my hand. He flew off to the elm tree outside my yard, all is okay now.

Major cuteness

I received another Cedar Waxwing this afternoon. This very adorable baby was found sitting in the middle of the road and was rescued by my friend Paula. As it's in with the older young bird it's doing just fine altho the baby thinks the other one is a mom. He's readily taking pieces of strawberry from me and will hopefully be returned to where he came from and given back to his parents.

Elegant

That is the best word to describe these amazing birds. Cedar Waxwings are such beautiful songbirds, I love them. This poor young bird was found on the ground with a wound to his left wrist. I don't know if it will eventually be okay for release but in the meantime he's eating lots of fruit, their main diet, and behaving in his cage.

Unfortunately I had to take this photo through the cage bars so it's not in good focus but you can see just how pretty he is.

Their new digs

The six baby Chickadees are now in a much larger place so they can try out their wings. It's the Reptarium on loan from Sara, originally for my little bat, YODETTE and now working perfectly for these teeny birds. The very small one is still hanging on, the rest will probably be flying sooner rather than later. And they have a small glass dish full of mealworms and chopped up sunflower seeds so when they feel the urge to self feed it's there for them.

From far, far away

This is an amazing tale of survival. The babies in the photo are about 14 day old Chickadee's. The were born in a nest box in CO, about an eight hour drive from Cody. The people who owned the house moved here today and brought all their prized possessions, including a very colorful handmade bird house.

Unknown to them, until just about the time they arrived here, the birdhouse was full. I met them and could barely get my hand inside this tiny house. What came out are these six babies. There is one very small one, in the center, the others are all about the same size. Because they hadn't been fed for so long I gave them each some Ringer's and 5% dextrose for dehydration and then some yummy (to them) mealworms. They are very small but each one of them quickly gaped for food.

Hopefully they will make it and I know the perfect yard to release them in. Mine won't work, chickadees don't come here, but the Neal yard has everything they would wish for.

Mine, it's all mine

A friend who has a couple cockatiels and parakeets, took over raising a baby "tiel" for me when my adults abandoned her. HONEY is all grown up now and has decided to become a mom too.

Well.........that won't work as she doesn't have a mate and is not laying eggs. She didn't care, so she tried to "sit" on a chicken egg in the carton. To keep her from become too frustrated when she kept falling off that huge egg, I gave her a half dozen eggs I've been keeping from hens who, for some reason, laid very small ones.

The top photo shows her picking out the one she liked. Bottom shows her in her "nest" under a couch end table, completely happy having one of her own.

First one!

Isn't he handsome? And you'll notice he's standing in the snow. We had a very short mini-blizzard just a bit before this wonderful adult male robin stopped by for a drink of water. It's the first one I've seen this year so Spring must surely be on the way.

Awesome visitors

The past couple of weeks has been very interesting here. As I was driving down my road I caught a flash of bright yellow/orange out of the corner of my eye. Luckily the adult male Bullock's Oriole stopped on sagebrush so I could get a good look at him through my binoculars. Brilliant bird. Then a couple days later, as I was pulling up to my front gate, I saw three unusual birds in my trees. Turns out they are female Bullock's. I immediately put out some cut oranges for them in case they came back. They must have, the oranges are gone so I have to put more out.

Then on Tuesday, as I was driving away from my place, a large bird flew off the top of one of my power poles. I thought it was a local redtail but after seeing the wing shape I stopped the truck and got out my binocs again. This time it was an adult Peregrine Falcon, the first one I've seen around here. S/he spent some time sitting on a fence post just watching the world go by.

And then there was the two osprey flying around and landing on power poles as I came back home from the Wednesday CSA. And a very rare sight these days, about two dozen nighthawks soaring all over about a mile from my house. They only eat when they're flying so apparently some sort of bug hatch was taking place.

It's always thrilling to see new species in the area, makes life more interesting.

Three more

These three baby sparrows came here as naked chicks and are now living in the big wild world outside. I know, the worlds doesn't necessarily need more sparrows but they were found inside a hole in cut down tree. These babies are very demanding when they want their food and are really cute. They may or may not make it through this first summer but at least they're getting a chance to live as they should, wild and free.