CHIMNEY SWIFTS
If you are fortunate enough to have these birds in your chimney,
consider yourself very fortunate. They will return each year about
April, have their babies about June, and leave the end of September,
eating thousands of flying insects each day. The flock flies in large
circles in the air with their mouths open, catching insects in flight.
If you hear them in your chimney in the spring, close the damper so
that they do not end up in your fire box and eventually into your
house. These birds are very difficult to rehab. because they eat on the
wing, so both babies and adults must be hand fed as long as they are in
captivity. Their diet is a strictly insectivore diet. They cling to the
side of the chimney, not perching like most birds, so they will need a
tall basket lined with a towel to simulate their habitat in the
chimney. They shake their heads vigorously making it difficult to feed
them, but with a little patience you will soon get the hang of it.
Their release should be at dusk, placing them on the side of a tall
utility pole, tree, or even the second story of your house. If they are
healthy and ready to go they will fly away.
If an adult ends up on the ground or inside the fire box of a chimney
on a flat surface, they are completely helpless and cannot take off in
flight unless they are on the side of a structure. The simplest
solution is to put them back up the chimney and close the damper.
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FLICKERS AND WOODPECKERS
These birds also cling, not perch. A cage should be lined with a towel,
so that the wire on the cage does not damage the tail feathers. It
should also have lots of logs for them to peck around on. The same
insectivore diet applies. They are aggressive birds and will attack
their own kind unless they have been raised together, so tread
cautiously when caging them with other birds.
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HUMMINGBIRDS
Hummingbirds feed on nectar, small insects and small spiders. They have
a very high metabolic rate and must eat 50 to 60 times a day. Injured
or ill adults will need to keep it in a small aquarium or box to
prevent them from escaping. Place a towel on the bottom, a small branch
close to the bottom and a piece of screen on top of the container. They
are little escape artists, so a birdcage should have very small mesh.
Place a small tube feeder in the container at a height that is easy for
the bird to reach. An eye dropper will suffice if the bird is immobile.
You will need to feed often, every fifteen or twenty minutes, taking
care not to let the bird become sticky from the solution.
Homemade Hummingbird
Formula
1 tablespoon sugar
4 tablespoons distilled water
1/8 teaspoon Ensure or Nutracal (high calorie nutritional supplement)
1 drop avian vitamins
1/8 approx. freeze dried insects (tropical fish food)
Blend all together so that is will easily flow through a tube.
Don’t forget a small
container of water placed in the bottom of its container (a small jar
lid works well).
If you choose to
purchase commercially made nectar, be sure to add the other ingredients
to it. The nectar is only OK for birds in the wild that can supplement
their diet naturally.
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PIGEONS AND DOVES
Pigeons and Doves, or Columbids eat from their mother’s crop. The
mother produces what is called crop milk. The young sticks it’s beak
into the mother’s crop and feeds, so you will have to tube feed them
when they are very small. Hold the bird with one hand, gently open the
mouth with the other and insert an eye dropper or pipette into the
right side of the mouth and into the crop. Fill the crop half way about
every thirty minutes until you feel comfortable doing this, then you
can fill the entire crop and extend the feedings to about three hours.
As the baby matures
add less water and make little dough balls, dip them in water and
insert it into the crop of the bird. Eventually, add seed in the bottom
of the cage and gradually decrease the formula as the bird starts
eating seed. REMEMBER: All seed eating birds must have grit to digest
the seed. This can be purchased where ever you buy domestic bird seed.
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| SEED EATER’S DIET
Kaytee’s Exact Hand
Feeding Formula, or equivalent brand; add an avian vitamin and mineral
supplement. Mix fresh at least once a day and keep refrigerated.
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PRECOCIAL BIRDS
These are birds that hatch covered with down and begin to peck around
for food as soon as their down has dried. They generally build nests on
the ground and are easy prey to predators, lawnmowers, and people who
pick them up when they should not. Anyone who sees a fuzzy baby walking
around on its own naturally assumes that it is lost or distressed, but
it is not usually the case. It is more than likely pecking around for
food with the mother and rest of its siblings not far away.
These birds include
shorebirds, geese, quail and ducks to name a few. Baby ducks around
local ponds usually end up being picked up by kids or well meaning
adults and if taken from the mother, will need to be cared for until it
can fend for itself, which usually means adulthood.
A mesh cage works well
to prevent escape, and remember that they are very good climbers and
will escape from anything without a top. Place a shallow dish of Kaytee
baby bird formula mixed with water in the cage along with a shallow
bowl of water and very small birdseed and grit. A good substitute for
mother is a feather duster hung from the top of the cage which allows
it to go under for safety. It will need to be kept warm which means
either a heating pad on low with towels under the cage to keep it from
getting too hot, or an incandescent lamp over the cage. They are messy
eaters and the cage will need to be cleaned often. These instructions
work well with all precocial birds although ducks are the most commonly
found. Most other precocials do not take to captivity as readily ducks
and care must be taken, as with all wildlife; to keep them as stress
free as possible and that means quiet and away from noisy children.
Shorebirds and quail should be released into their own environment as
soon as they are large enough to survive without mother
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HERONS, EGRETS, BITTERNS
These birds are found in wet, woodland areas, streams and swamps as
well as coastal wetlands. They are at home in both salt and fresh
water. They like to roost on tree limbs and stumps close to the water’s
edge. Their diet consists mainly of small fish, but will also eat
prawn, crickets, crawfish, grasshoppers, snakes, frogs, mice, snails,
water bugs, earthworms, leeches, lizards- anything they find along the
water’s edge. The parents regurgitate the food, but it is not
predigested. If the baby bird is newly hatched when you get it in, it
is much easier to mix a tube formula for a few days. A good formula is:
1 cup Science Diet
Feline Growth, dry
1 hard boiled egg
1 teaspoon calcium phosphate powder
1 teaspoon vitamin and mineral powder (Superpreen or Vionate)
1/2 cup Purina Trout Chow
1/2 cup water
Mix to a consistency to tube feed and feed slowly, making sure you are
well past the air hole.
After about a week,
start feeding small fish such as minnows. If all you can find is bait
fish, cut the head off, cut into small pieces, dip into a vitamin
mineral powder, making sure it contains vitamin B1. Try placing the
food in front of the bird and encourage it to pick it up and eat it on
its own. If necessary, pick up the piece of fish with a pair of forceps
or long tweezers and place it into the throat of the bird. They have
the capacity to hold a large amount of fish, but the fish should not be
too big or the bones will be too large to swallow. At some point they
should start attacking the fish you throw at their feet as a beginning
to their self feeding. At that point, place the fish in a shallow pan
of water. Keep trying this method. Eventually they will get the idea.
In hot weather, the fish and water should be changed often to avoid
spoiling. Juvenile birds should be released at about eight weeks old,
but be sure they are self feeding, have good flight skills and are
waterproof before releasing them into an area where others of their own
species are found.
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Birds of Prey
I have not included a
chapter in this book on Raptors, or Birds of Prey. That is because they
are so specialized it is absolutely imperative to their survival that
someone experienced care for any hawk or owl that you may find to be
sick or injured. Your state’s wildlife agency or the local humane
society should have names and numbers of wildlife rehabilitators or
centers that specialize in birds of prey in your area. If there are
injuries to the wings or legs, they must be treated by a veterinarian
as soon as possible. If a wound or break goes too long, it cannot be
treated and the bird cannot be returned to the wild. Diet is also very
specialized, so as tempting as it may be, for the sake of the bird,
turn it over to someone trained in the field. The same applies to them
as to any other wildlife you come in contact with. Keep warm, dark, and
quiet until it can be turned over to the proper person.
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