# Question: When Is A Broken Wing Actually A Lucky Thing?



## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Answer: When the pigeon has such a bad case of canker that it would have starved to death in another day or two.

It's been a really strange past week for rescues including this pigeon that flew into a utility pole at warp speed on Tuesday afternoon. The rescuer realized that the wing had been broken and brought the bird in and cared for it until he could drop it off to me at my work on Wednesday. This poor bird has a very advanced case of canker, pigeon flies galore, AND a badly broken wing. I know I can eradicate the bugs, can probably get the canker resolved, and maybe even fix the wing well enough that the bird will fly again.
All in all, it WAS a lucky thing that this bird suffered a broken wing, was rescued, and now has a chance to overcome what would have been insurmountable problems for it in the wild.

On Tuesday morning I was returning home from running a few errands only to spot a tiny, white rabbit nibbling grass near the curb of a busy intersection which leads into my neighborhood. Though I was definitely thinking "Why me?", I stopped and easily caught the little bunny. It is dirty and emaciated, doesn't really recognize rabbit pellets as food yet (though it is slowly catching on), but is such a sweet little thing.

Then later in the day Euclid arrived .. a not quite fledged young pigeon that had fallen from a nest on an overpass of Euclid St. in Fullerton CA. Euclid St. in this area is an insanely busy thoroughfare, and the baby would have surely been run over if not for two very kindly ladies who came to the rescue. Euclid is starting to peck at seeds but is still a hand feeding baby and appears to have a slightly injured leg. Little Euclid was poop encrusted on the underside, and we're slowly working at getting all that off. It is a precious little thing.

Still later in the day a fellow duck rescue person called to see if I could take two fledgling birds that she had found at the duck pond at the Civic Center in Garden Grove. She didn't know what they were, and her description of them left me wondering what the "mystery" babies would be. She told me that there had been 6 of these babies and that four of them had been killed and partially eaten as had a white rabbit that had apparently been dumped at the same time.

So, the duck lady arrives Tuesday evening with two adult Japanese Coturnix Quail. I'm not sure what made her think these were fledglings of some type, but she did. While quail are usually quite hyper, these two are very tame and friendly and seem to be quite content to snuggle and snooze together when not being waited upon by me.

Three ducks will be going to a wonderful home tomorrow. A nice young lady who is a vet tech in my area had adopted two ducks from me last summer and called the other day to see if I had another two .. we ended up with her being willing to adopt three after hearing the stories of how I came to have them. I will be dropping them off to her tomorrow.

Well, that's the latest from this neck of the woods.

I'm really hoping the next few days will be slow for incoming as I have tons of things I need to do, but I guess we shall see.

Terry


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## Skyeking (Jan 17, 2003)

Oh, that bird is so lucky, I'm glad you got him, and not a moment too soon!

Sounds like all your new rescues would certainly have all perished quickly had they not been rescued when they were.

I'm glad you found a home for 3 of the ducks, that helps your numbers...I' sure.

Thanks for sharing.


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

Thanks for the post, Treesa. As it turns out, I got in a new pigeon at work today from Mike the La Habra Pigeon Man and need to go to the wildlife center in the morning to pick up an adult domestic duck and two domestic ducklings. So much for a slow day or two, but so it goes!

Here's a pic of the bunny, by the way. http://www.rims.net/2009Mar03/target1.html

Terry


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## LUCKYT (Jan 17, 2009)

Good job Terry! Domestic ducks are a lot of work/poop lol! And for their size corturnix are pro's! LOL!


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## TAWhatley (Mar 6, 2001)

LUCKYT said:


> Good job Terry! Domestic ducks are a lot of work/poop lol! And for their size corturnix are pro's! LOL!


Yeah, I'm more than familiar with the poop and dabbling of ducks .. Have you had Coturnix Quail? I got 16 of them years ago that a lady rescued from an Asian market and then released at the duck pond not realizing that they really wouldn't do too well there. Those 16 were totally wild and crazy birds, and I had to break them down into groups of 4 in order to keep them from pecking each other to death and breaking their necks from bouncing off the walls of the cages. The ones I've gotten in since then seem to be much more mellow birds though still prone to go right straight up in the air with no notice .. quite amazing little chubby birds.

Terry


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## LUCKYT (Jan 17, 2009)

Yes i have kept very many over the years, when i was very young, i fell for the "make money raising quail" thing, i was not really interested in the money, but the quail part i loved! LOL The poop more per capita, than just about any living thing, short of most waterfowl. They also used to go by the name"Pharoh" (spelling) Quail. I had them when i was just about done showing poultry. and again when i was into cage birds.
They always reminded me of the creature from "Lil Abner" cartoons, i think it was "the Smooh" all they did was reproduce, oh yah, and poop! 
I thought the new borns were about the cutest and smallest things i have ever seen, next to Button Quail, and Bob White Hatchlings, Dave


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## Reti (Jul 20, 2003)

That bunny is so cute. 
Once again you have your hands full. Thank you for all you do for the needy critters in your area.

Reti


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## TerriB (Nov 16, 2003)

That pigeon was incredibly lucky! Wishing him a speedy and uneventful recovery. 

What a sweet little bunny! Sure hope some good grub and safe quarters turns him around soon.

Hmmm...all that poop...is that why your husband's roses are so gorgeous?


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Terry,

As usual, your rescues are very fortunate to have a reverse of fortunes through you. The bunny is so cute looking. And the squeaker *Valentine* is also so cute. ("Cute" seems to be the apt word today). 

I am sitting here typing, with a cute squeaker rescue on my lap. *Findi* has a damaged left outer wing -- some blood and a thick lump of swollen tissue, bruised and maybe sprained left leg, emaciated, but hopefully recovering.

Question: You post a lot of pictures on the "rims" web-site. Do you maintain a large online photo collection there, or do you have to rotate your selections on-line and off-line? (For example, Google's Picasa photo storage web-site seems to have a limited online storage for free). 

Can one access all your photos with one click? I don't catch each and every post at PT, and miss some days. Occasionally I have time to back-track.

(You can keep your answer short). Thanks,

Larry


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## maryjane (Jul 15, 2006)

Poor little bunny! He really does look bad. Or I should say, poor *lucky * little bunny, to have been found by you. Great news about the three ducks having a home. . .now that's three down, four million to go?  As for coturnix quail, they are the funniest birds. We always called our males Burt Bacharach (since they sound like they're crowing "Burt BACHarach!") and the females were Spongebob since they were yellow. I know, I don't get an award for originality! All my black and white pigeons are named Monster hehe. Keeps it simpler. The quail remind me of doves in that they are not very bright, but very, very stubborn and hard-headed! And so cute. I wish I was closer, I would take them. I miss having them, especially tame ones. Good luck with everyone!


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