# Tiny Baby Bird Found



## Xenku (Jul 25, 2005)

Hello, I just wanted to ask if anyone knows what type of bird this may be. I found it inside its nest on my front yard when I was going to leave. I must've fallen off my tree. I had to take it in because it was just too young to leave alone, it probably would've died soon and there is a lot of movement in my front yard like traffic, cats and kids running by. I currently own 2 Love Birds and have had them for about 11 years so what I did to feed this new baby bird was grind my Love Bird's food (seeds) into a fine powder and then mixed it with water and used a syringe to feed the little bird.

So far the bird is looking good I have had it for about 3 days now and I keep it in a small box on a soft paper towel with a heating pad underneath on the lowest setting and I only turn it on sometimes, I don't leave it on all day because I figured in nature it wouldn't get that much heat (correct me if I' wrong). Below I posted a YouTube Video which I made for you too see and decide for yourself. In it you will see my mother feeding it as I video tape it. Any suggestions much appreciated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbLr_wQGowg


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## Pegasus (Feb 6, 2007)

BY watching your video, he seems active and healthy...Just need to keep feeding him/her everytime he/she make a noise (I think)...Haven't hand feed any baby pigeon that small/young...But you are doing good...I can see that after feeding, he/she just calms down...


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## Feather (Dec 8, 2005)

I watched your video. Bless you and your mom for taking such good care of this tiny one. I wish I could help you out with the type of bird that he is. I don't think that all birds eat seeds. Some eat insects. He is so tiny, and your mom is so gentle with him. Maybe if you have time you could put him close to where you found him to see if his parents will come back to feed him. Stay close by and don't leave him alone. You may be able to identify the type of bird he is if his parents try to feed him.

Best of Luck to you. I wish I could have been more help.


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## Pegasus (Feb 6, 2007)

Usually a baby bird like that fell from the nest and the parents stayed with the baby until someone pass by or they are spooked so they flew away...But if I were you try to find the nest on the location where you found the bird and (only if possible) put the baby back in the nest...


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## Xenku (Jul 25, 2005)

Well when I first found the baby bird in the nest on the floor (btw there was 1 egg next to the nest on the floor too but it was dry inside and cracked but not broken open) I knew that its best chance of survival was for its parent to take care of it. So I got my ladder and tried to find a good spot to place the nest back on the tree, I even went as far as tying the nest to a fork in a branch using a soft long branch from the tree itself. It held up good and did not compromise the nest.

I left the nest on the tree for about 4 hours but no birds came to the nest at all (I watched from inside my house, out of sight).. and my tree gets a lot of action from different types of birds all day long (humming birds, those small black crow birds, miniature red pigeons (like the one I posted on a long time ago), small birds that are very tiny as adults and fly fast like bullets the locals call them "Reinitas" or "princess'" in English and another big bird like a Robin look alike. (I'm in Puerto Rico)

When I saw that no birds came to attend the baby I thought to myself I had to do something about it.. I felt like it was going to starve to death and now that I've been taking care of this bird I notice that he/she asks for food approximately every 2 hours and it eats a lot. So I assume it is doing well.

I will need to find out about the diet though because I do think it probably would eat insects from its mother and in adult hood. So far he/she likes the stuff I'm giving it and its poop seems normal enough like my Love Birds'.

I'll make another video in a week hopefully.


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## Georgina (Jun 24, 2008)

Awwwhh, gosh! Isn't he tiny!!

Now, don't hold me to this as I may well be wrong, but from the shape of his beak, thinking of what the wild birds here in England look like, he looks to have an insect eater beak. Although many insect eaters will eat seeds too. Do you have a pet shop near by? Maybe you could try and get hold of some mealworms or waxworms from there and try feeding them to him with a pair of tweezers? Mealworms are a bit big though so you might have to chop them (not a pleasent job I'm afraid!). You could also try and get some bird handrearing mix. This bird is obviously thriving on your crushed seed mix though so it's probably not a neccesity, it's just that the handrearing mix would have all the nutrients baby birds need in it. I've reared a baby pigeon before on 'Kaytee Exact' and he did very well on it.

Well done for rescuing this little chick and I really hope you do well raising him!


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

aww thank you for saving the baby, sounds like you did everything right
here's the old fons diet i will try to find the updated one and get back to you later, it has changed slightly.
if your using parrot handfeeding formula for now, you can also soak a little dry kitten food in water and offer her pieces of that, and you can scramble up and egg and offer her pieces of that also,a few blueberries would also be good. i'm sure she's a insect eater also, not sure what she is, i'm not sure what's native to you.
looks like your doin a great job, keep her warm with a heating pad, she probobly should be fed every 15-30 minutes sun up to sun down, if you miss some feedings you can make them up into the evening. you might also want to line a little bowl with tissue so she feels cozy an safe like she would in her nest.
120 g (1 cup) Eukanuba® Chicken & Rice Kitten Formula, presoaked in about
1.25 cup water
• 71 g (1 jar) Beech-Nut Stage 1 Chicken & Chicken Broth® Baby Food
• 12 g (2 Tb.) dried egg white
• 5 g (1 tsp.) active-culture plain yogurt or liquid acidophilus
• 2 g (1/2 tsp.) Avi-Era® multiple vitamins or custom vitamin mix described
below
• 3 g pure calcium carbonate
Blend in food processor until smooth. Water amounts may be varied to achieve
desired consistency for feeding. Soaking time is reduced if kitten kibble is pulverized
in food processor prior to adding water. See notes below for important information
about ingredients.
Dry Weight Composition: 46% protein, 22% fat, 23% carbohydrate
Calciumhosphorus ratio: 2:1 Energy: 1.3 kc/cc
Supplementing with live insects is recommended.
FoNS© 2002 Diane Winn, Avian Haven
Ingredient


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Bless you for taking in this baby. Being in Puerto Rico I'm not sure what species this is - it kinda looks like a grackle that we have here in the states.

Its beak is that of an insect eater and as such, needs to be fed a diet consistent with that. What we usually do is buy Gerber #2 baby food, chicken or beef and feed it just like you are doing with the mixture you made up. Also, soak a good quality brand of dog/cat dry food until soft but not soggy. We use Science Diet. Break the pellets in half or even quarters and feed a small amount. 

You will need to be very careful that it doesn't develop Metabolic Bone Disease which can cripple it. To help prevent this, feed it some small pieces of grapes or blueberries at every meal. You can also shave a cuttlebone into its food to help add calcium or even about a quarter of regular calcium tablets or Tums. I can't stress enough how serious this disease is for growing babies.

I enjoyed your video. I think you have the best shot I have seen of how a songbird's crop looks. It is that white bulge at the side of its neck. (A pigeon's crop is on its chest.) One caution though. Watch this closely and don't fill it quite as full as you did in this video. They will continue to cry for food even when they're full.


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## Xenku (Jul 25, 2005)

Thank you for the suggestions, I very much appreciate them.

I can get dry cat food like the ones you mentioned (I have 3 cats) and I can get grapes, does it matter what type of grapes (green/purple)?

I did notice he/she asks for food even when it is full. In the video it filled up more than usual. Usually its pouch fills up smaller and we just feed it more often.

Also when I feed I make sure that there is no air in the tube with the food because I don't want the food to explode into its mouth all of the sudden when pressing the syringe. But I noticed the its pouch has air in it along with mostly food and it moves around when he/she is sleeping, is this ok? It seems ok but I want to make sure.


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

don't worry about the air, and i do fill them up until they stop begging (sorry) his little crop wil empty almost right away you can actually see the food going down if you watch it as you feed him, songbirds crops are very different than a pigeons or doves, they don't really store food in it for long


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

you might want to see if you can get a bunch of smaller 1 cc or 1 ml syringes also, it will make feeding a little easier for you


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## Larry_Cologne (Jul 6, 2004)

Xenku,

You may know about this already, but baby pigeons can get "*splay leg*" or splayed leg if they do not have something beneath them which keeps their legs from slipping out sideways from underneath them. Their legs grow improperly and stick out sideways or forwards or backwards, and they cannot use this leg . Maybe put a few twigs beneath him, like he ad in his nest. Or use the old nest. I am not an expert in this kind of bird, but you might keep an eye open for this situation developing. 

One pigeon vet here in Germany said soft rubber tubing (about 1/4 inch in diameter), such as is used for aquariums, is good for attaching to feeding syringes. The feeding seems to be going well, however. 

Make sure he stays warm and out of drafts. He needs to save his energy for growing, rather than for staying warm, even in Puerto Rico, I imagine.

Great job, in my opinion!

He is so tiny and cute!

Larry


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Hi Xenku - either green, purple or black grapes do fine.

I guess it is just a matter of preference but we were trained not to overload the crop. They do go down much quicker than a pigeon's crop and can be fed more frequently. 

We use a 1 cc syringe.


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

xenku, how's the baby???


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## Xenku (Jul 25, 2005)

So far the baby is growing and eating more  I will make another video on Sunday so that you can see how it has grown. It has a lot more feathers and the tail is longer so are his legs and eyes, overall he is bigger 

I am mixing some cat food with the seeds that I talked about earlier, I made it into a powder form and mix it with water but not too watery.

Sometimes I make it with a little more water so it gets more water just in case it needs more water. But, I only do that like every 4 or 5 meals. He eats about 10 times a day. He is a hungry little fellow.

I think he is a Mocking Bird but I'm not 100% sure.


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

i didn't think he lookedlike a mocking bird, the beak looks wrong, but the vid was a little dark
here's a link to a rehabber who has taught me alot and she has pics of a mockingbird
http://images.google.com/imgres?img...=en&rlz=1T4GGLL_en___US304&sa=N&start=18&um=1


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

what color is the inside of his mouth??


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

if it's red he may be a grackle, we need more pics


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## Xenku (Jul 25, 2005)

He looks like Picture number 3 , except he can stand up on both his legs and grab my finger and stand on it too. Wow, picture number 3 is almost identical. He has a little more feathers though, I guess you could say he is somewhere between picture #3 and #4.

Maybe he is a different type of Mocking Bird not a Northern.

I'm also starting to worry about what to do with him in the future.

1. When is he going to be ready to be released?

2. Will he survive on his own since he was raised by me?

3. Will he know what to do to take care of himself?

My greatest worry is that I went through all the effort to raise him and keep him alive and then when released he dies because he cannot take care of himself. What should I do?


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

i would say you have about a month to go at least before he is ready for an outdoor cage.
are you in a city or country area?
if you want to have him have the best chance possible you should only let him see you when you need to feed him or clean up.
and make it very bussiness like, no baby talking or snuggles, which i know is really hard to resist doing when they are so flippen cute!
i also make the same noise whenever i feed him, i make little tsk tsk noises so when they are free i can call them when i put food out for them. but a whislte or anything as long as it's the same will work, just remember you want to use something that doesn't make you look like a lunitic to the neiboors!! i've made that mistake before,lol
his chances are good, (much better than if you didn't save him)especially if you support feed him once he's released, he may stick around but he may not, even when they do stick around they eventually come less and less as he figures out where to find food, but he may visit from time to time. i still have blue jays and wrens returning from yrs ago.
if you can't make a very predator proof outdoor enclosure that he can fly in, you will need to let him fly around the house to build up his strength.(make sure windows get covered so he doesn't smash into them) and once he's a bit older he should spend sometime outside getting to know the other birds in the area in a safe cage of course.
keep him away from cats or dogs if you have them, he will not fear them if he sees them at all very important!
i usually keep my babies once old enough in an outdoor enclosure from 2-4 weeks once completly self feeding.
do you have him in a cage yet?? if not, it's time if he is able to perch on your finger.
and it's time to start putting his own food to try and a small dish of water for him.
you can show him the food and hand it to him to eat. were you able to get any mealworms??
you might want to order some online it's much cheaper than getting them at a pet store, you can also soak dry cat food, i use science diet or evo, scrambled egg is good also.
very minumul seed if any, if he's a mocking bird that isn't what he will eat.
you can try suet also, the kind with bugs is the best


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

and blueberries, mocking birds love blueberries, and if you have any berry bushes that are safe down where you are you can take branches of them and put them in his cage


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

oh on the blue berries, i'm not sure if you can get frozen wild blueberries, i like them because they are little compared to the fresh ones, he might have a hard time swallowing them if they are to big, you may need to cut them up, he should n't have a problem with the big ones when he's older


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

more pics please


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## Xenku (Jul 25, 2005)

I live in a city area but not a city like New York and there is a lot of Cars around and I really do not have a back yard or front yard. My front yard is Very small and it has 1 tree.

I do have him in a small cage now. I put him in there about 2 days ago. It was my Love Bird's old first cage when I got my birds.

I couldn't get mealworms but I do have 3 types of cat food since I have 3 cats. I have used my younger cats' food to make this baby bird's food. I basically make it into powder along with a bit of powderized seeds and mix it with water and feed him with a syringe.. the ratio is about 3/4 cat powder and 1/4 seed powder.


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## Xenku (Jul 25, 2005)

Ok, here is the New video made exactly one week after the first one you saw. Tell me what you guys think. What type of bird is it? I say its a Mocking Bird but we'll see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mO_xoEZ0ZD8


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

i stll dn't know! lol, but feed him!! he's awfully cute. i tried looking up mocking birds tropical.. puerto rico.. i'm still not convinced that's what he is. i'll try seeing what else i can find


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

i found this website
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...wlarks.2C_Cowbirds.2C_Grackles.2C_and_Orioles
but you have to remember most babies don't always looks like the parents


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## Maggie-NC (Jun 22, 2005)

Well, I'm totally stumped on this one. It doesn't look like the Mockers we have but the beak is still that of a insect eater.

Hate to be a worry wart  but I think I would take out the swing for another week or so just to be safe. I worry about them falling off something that high and their bones are still forming. Even from that height they can break a leg. That is another reason to give them fruit to help strengthen their bones.

Please let us know when you find out what he is. I know one thing he is and that is cute! You're doing a wonderful job raising him.


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## Xenku (Jul 25, 2005)

Hey what do you guys think about what Dr. Ron Hines wrote on this web-page:

http://www.2ndchance.info/insecteater.htm


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

it's an okay diet, but i don't use raisins, if you would like something a little simpler, most rehabbers in the us go by the nwra standards and the fons diet seems to be the most preferred, i didn't give you the updated 2008 version did i, sorry
1 cup (136 g) evo dry cat and kitten food
1.3 cups (315 cc) water
3 tbsp (18 g) dried egg white
0.5 g (1/8 tsp) avi era bird vitamins Lafeber company
5.0 (1/2 tsp) active culture plain yogurt

pres oak kibble in water do no drain
blend all ingredients in food processor or blender
if you are going to freeze it only add yogurt after thawing

i tend to use a little less water, i find the orignal recipe is to watery
and i also use a powdered probiotics instead because the yogurt go bad fast and i won't eat it.

now, if you want an even simpler diet or you can't get those ingredients, i used this diet back in the day and i liked it and had success with
http://www.starlingtalk.com/babycare.htm


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## Xenku (Jul 25, 2005)

Thank you for all your help but I was able to speak with my Veterinarian and I did not know he specialized in Birds. I told him about the bird and he asked me to bring him the baby bird.

Again, I am very happy with all you guys' help and I appreciate it very much, all of you helped save the bird!

Key things that I learned that helped a ton were:

*putting twigs in the bottom of the nest so the bird wouldn't develop the bad crooked legs. (obviously it worked)

*Using dry cat food as a great source of nutrients for this bug eating bird  (I had no idea)


THANKS AGAIN!

Oh, and its between the (Northern Mockingbird - Mimus polyglottos) and the (Gray Kingbird - Tyrannus dominicensis)


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

cool maybe the vet will be able to solve the mystery bird question!!i've had 1 ufo (unidentified flying object) in the last 5 yrs that i never figured out what it was, he was some kind of warbler, but because i don't hang onto them long enough for the adult plumage i never did find out, i still will show a pic to a new birder person when i meet one, some mysteries can never be solved! lol
all i know is i gave him his chance to live in the wild, and i guess that's all that matters when it comes right down to it.
and sometimes i have to wait until they are a bit older to figure out what they are if it's a bird i have never had before, like the red eyed vireo i had last year, didn't know what she was till she was alomost 3 weeks old, i just go by the beak to make sure they are getting the proper food.
that may be something you will want to look into is online wild birding clubs if the vet doesn't know, you can post some pics and see if they can identify.
here's my ufo, maybe some one on here can figure her out


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## altgirl35 (Sep 5, 2008)

we you able to identify what kind of bird h is??? how's he doin??


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