Sometimes you get lucky.
Pruning back the thick summer growth around our house, we accidentally uncovered a nest of two baby birds, which we guessed to be pigeons. In Japan, it is considered a sign of luck to find a bird nesting near your home, and two birds was double happiness!
Unfortunately, we had cut back the branches which gave them shade from the still hot late summer sun, and all the cutting had scared away the mother bird.
We managed to rebuild a canopy over the nest, but by nightfall the nest was empty. Both birds had fallen out, or jumped to the ground below, not a small distance! And the mother was nowhere in sight.
Feeling responsible for disturbing their peace, we created a makeshift nest with a shallow bucket that was large enough to contain their real nest, a small towel and water tray. But they wouldn't eat, and seemed determined to wait for the return of their mother.
After one day, this did not seem likely to happen. Not yet able to fly, and otherwise pretty much helpless, they might also be sitting ducks for a wandering cat. I couldn't get the birds off my mind, and started acting like a mother bird myself!
You do what you can, and sometimes you get lucky.
I called our vet, who advised that it was best not to try to raise them, but instead put the nest back where it was and hope that the mother bird comes back. This seemed unlikely to succeed, and wasn't a solution that my conscience could accept.
The next day I bought the birds some worm meal, tiny grains literally crawling with the stuff that might make their day. We also tied the bucket securely back in the tree where the nest originally was, and gave the birds all that they might need, a wing and a prayer.
Maybe the vet was right, because the mother did come back, and the birds are now stretching their legs and wings for flight training. Sometimes you get lucky, and that is double happiness!
Mother Bird is Back!
Just one week after the above photo was taken, and we had created a makeshift nest for the two baby birds, the mother bird returned. We noticed that the birds were almost ready to fly the coop, so we set the video just in case, and managed to capture a remarkable scene of the mother bird returning to the nest and feeding the young bird. This footage shows the young bird waiting, perhaps seeing the mother nearby, the excitement in anticipation of the feeding, an acrobatic ritual of getting food into the young bird's mouth, and then the mother taking flight. One of the baby birds had already flown the coop, and later that afternoon this one followed. None of the bird family has returned, so they are now out in the world on their own. This kind of scene happens around us all the time, but how often do we get to see it? Enjoy!!
Comments