Saturday 27 June 2020

Drought and baby birds

Water levels are bad, here in South eastern Ontario. We've not had much water for 3 months. The year 2016 was the worst. The watershed conditions do not look good this year.

We drove into Ottawa Thursday, to take a baby robin into the Bird wild life. I popped it into a fake nest I'd bought years ago.  



This is where we found it. In the sun, out in the open, on the dry, crackly grass.

This is who lurks in the night.


Ottawa Valley Bird Care Centre on Moodie Dr. , 70 km and an hour later.

We made it home, after lunch with the kids, who are in our bubble. I had a suspicion, and wandered out into the backyard, where I'd found baby robin #1. Sure enough, a screaming baby robin #2. Something had gotten to the nest, I assumed.


It looked helpless, sitting there in the dried grass and in the sun. We've weasels, coyotes, aggressive blue jays, wandering around the yard. Never, in all my time outdoors, have I seen such young birds on the ground. They get their flight wings, and momma and papa follow them around.  The young ones have speckles on their red breasts.

We just couldn't face another trip into the city twice in one day. I sent JB out to get pablum and eggs. That's what we fed Batman Not Robin, back in the day, on the advice from the same bird rescue peeps. It didn't work very well.  Cat food (you know, stuff from the vet @$2.68 per can), is what I fed it. We weren't about to go into the city again. It was starving.

We've seen robins and robin's nests over the years. They are demanding babies.

These are archived photos of Batman. It was blind in one eye.


I'd tried pablum and egg yolk, but had troubles. 

Off we drove to the bird centre.

Arriving at the Centre, I took the wee one in. I was shocked. The technician told me that I should not have done so. That Momma would be around feeding it, and I should have watched it for 2 hours. She said that it wasn't too young to be out of the nest. I felt as if she slapped my face. It was the centre that told me to feed this to Batman, all those years ago (2011). Batman did well on it. Well, we arrived home and put our feet up. At least we know they aren't dead. 



For more critters:

Saturday's Critters #341

15 comments:

eileeninmd said...

Helo,

Neat Coyote video. I feel sorry for the baby birds, But I heard the same advice was to leave the baby birds alone. The mama would return and they would be safe. They are adorable. Thank you for linking up your post. Enjoy your day, wishing you a happy weekend! PS, thank you for the visit and comment too.

Tom said...

...there's a lot of hunger in the world these days!

Mae Travels said...

You are very dedicated to try to rescue these birds!

be well... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

Jenn Jilks said...

Really, Eileen. They were just so small, and with two cats in the yard... Now we know, but they were so harsh. I've heard this about fawns, and older robins, I didn't think they would survive.

carol l mckenna said...

you are heros in my eyes saving 2 robins in one day and driving all that way ~ You did what you could ~

Great video with the amazing coyotes and robins ~

Wishing you a relaxing weekend ~ Xox

Be Safe, Be Well,
A ShutterBug Explores,
aka (A Creative Harbor)

Christine said...

You did your best!

RedPat said...

That looks awfully young to survive. Too bad they were a bit mean to you at the centre the 2nd time.

Karen said...

I have little ones running all over my yard too. They aren't able to fly yet but the parents are taking good care of them. If the poor dog goes out to pee the parents get frantic, so I quickly get her back in again. I'm learning to recognize the parents calls, ie. if they are calling the little ones or getting mad, or in distress. The day the hawk was here was scary!!

Nancy J said...

The wee birds look way too small to be out of a nest, and I am with you all the way. We had a bird rescuer centre not so close, and they came to collect various babies we have found.

~Lavender Dreamer~ said...

Well, that baby was probably glad you rescued it! You did GOOD! Enjoy your weekend! And thanks for sharing your nature stories and videos.

Olga said...

I was just talking with a friend about bird rescues and then see the topic in your post which all made me smile. We really need rain here in VT!

Anvilcloud said...

You did your best.

Red said...

I once found a young robin on the ground but it was crawling with bugs.

Anu said...

Hello. I hope you'll have rain and droughts would be reduced.
Not all baby birds survive... It is so sad, but it is life...
Awesome coyote video.
Take care!

Rain said...

Hey Jenn, thanks for sharing the coyote video. I showed it to Alex. We're still trying to find a good spot for the cams. When we rescued a few baby robins, we were also told we shouldn't have. That they needed to be found by their mamas...but they really were helpless when we found them too all out in the open like that. One time we followed that advice and a squirrel got to it...never again! Good for you for saving them!