Taking care of....

[InnocenceLost57]

....a robin, apparently.



So, someone apparently found this injured robin and left it in a paper bag (????) outside our dorm. One of the other RAs brought it in and gave it to me, since I apparently know about these things.



Lucky for him (and the bird) I actually DO know a little bit, and I brought him in and got him warm; he ate and drank, which was good, and he's been doing so consistently. I made him a little nest out of a bowl and washcloth so he's got something to support him while he sleeps, and he's (I hope) sleeping inside a nice covered box. hopefully he'll make it to the morning, when I can take him to the local wildlife vet.



Granted, I don't even know if he's actually injured or not. He looks to be a juvenille (fully fledged, but still has some of his baby fluff underneath) and maybe just doesn't know how to fly yet and some well-meaning but random person thought he was injured. He does look like he has a patch missing some feathers and a little torn up on his left side, so I figure I'll take him in anyways. If he's fine, they can release him, if not then maybe they can do something about it.



Anyways. My adventure for the night!! I'm sure there will be pictures to follow; my residents got a ton.

[FranklinF]

um i am not sure until what age but i think you may need to mash up the worm... as baby birds cant digest whole worms...

[InnocenceLost57]

He's not a baby - he has all of his adult feathers, and is just a little bit fluffy underneath still. So he does fine with the worms - he'd snap at them until he took them from us, and seriously went to town. It was like a 5 year old with spaghetti noodles.



And he's STILL ALIVE this morning! Yayyyyy birdie. So off we go to the vet, there may be nothing wrong with him and he'll just have a wonderful story to tell his kids. But we'll see. I just wish I had the expertise to tell! I don't know if the torn up part on his wing is something to worry about or not.

[Lena]

Haha, robins love worms. I used to work at a wildlife hospital, and although we would often cut them up a little, we'd never mash them - they do seem to digest them just fine. Parent robins don't seem to give anything particularly mushy.



My bet is that this little birdy will probably be dusted with some anti-biotic powder where his wing was scratched, then put into an enclosure whilst he recovers - after which he should be released into the wild again.

[InnocenceLost57]

That's pretty much what they said. They suspected that he was a fledgling and hadn't learned to fly properly yet, so they said they'd keep an eye on him and then release him in a few days.



Yay robins! He was SO CUTE.

[Lena]

Aww, he is beautiful. - He looks friendly too! (Are American robins as people friendly as European robins? Our robins tend to watch from a close distance, then decide its safe to come closer in case of food opportunities! (Especially if gardening - worms!)).



Robins over here are quite different - smaller - and not very closely related, according to wikipedia.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/f ... /253.shtml

[InnocenceLost57]

Nah, the birds here aren't too freindly (unless you cound seagulls coming and stealing your food!). But he was pretty tame once he figured out that we weren't going to eat him or squeeze him.



Bad news though - apparently he had head trauma (which is why he had trouble keeping his left eye open) and had to be euthanised



At least he had a warm and well-fed last night.

[Lena]

Aww, thats a shame.

[CausticTears]

aww poor thing