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[ThothAgrippa]

Yesterday I was done with my classes (WVU) around noon, and I intended to meet up with my friend in town. I knew he would be sleeping in, so I took a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood to pass the time. As I was walking up a narrow brick road in the suburbs, I spotted some birds on the sidewalk ahead of me. They all flew away as I approached, save for one who didn't seem able to. I observed the little bird running clumsily away from me, I followed it off the sidewalk to a couple of cement stairs in someone's yard. Here it tried to conceal itself from me by shoving it's little head into a crack, clearly panicked by my presence. I marvelled at how small and helpless it seemed, as it stood motionless hiding only its head in a corner. I would have probably left it alone at this point had I not immediately noticed, not one, not two, but THREE cats stalking around the adjacent yards. I knew the baby was defenseless and alone, so I waited there for some help.
A couple from across the street finally noticed and helped me get a container to place the little guy in. After half an hour of trying I got him to perch on my finger and let me move him into the box. He seemed reluctant to let go. The couple who had helped insisted on taking him to a vet, which I was glad for as I have no car. I told them to let me know if he needed a home.

The vet pronounced him healthy and fit, but a week or so too young to be able to fly. I was asked by the couple to care for him until he could under orders from the vet. The vet gave us catfood and a syringe to hand feed him by. I got my friend to help me set up  a home for him in my basement, though the temperature was ultimately too low for him there. We took him outside and fed him in the sun. He quickly became attached to me, seeking me out if I sat him down and nuzzling his little featherless neck on my hand. I held him and fed him the rest of the night and he seemed quite happy. Finally I had to go to sleep around 1 AM, so I set him up in a contained nest and placed it in a well heated room.
This morning at 530 I woke up and ran to check on him. He was weak and confused, I cleaned him gently and offered him food to no avail. He seemed disoriented and tired, so I wrapped him in my tee-shirt and sat quietly with him stroking his head. I hoped that by the time it was daylight he would be hungry enough to feed.
As the sun rose, his little body twitched a few times in my hands and then was still. I saw that his eyes were half open and unmoving. He died around 0630 this morning, his chin resting on my thumb.
I left him wrapped in my shirt with a Tibetan dorjha on my bed for an hour while I cut my lawn, then dug a small grave. I wrapped his body in one of my best silk handkerchiefs and buried him in my front lawn, leaving a honeyed cake as a silent offering over the spot.

I feel terrible guilt for leaving him alone while I slept, as he had seemed fine while I held him. I also was upset to learn last night that 9 of 10 handfed birds DO NOT survive to adulthood. The best thing would have been to leave him near where I found him, but there were cats who had a reputation for hunting birds there and he could not have returned to the nest. I think the vet was wrong to advise us to keep him, but I only did what I thought would help by following her advice. Now I am responsible for his death, but I know that at least for a short time he was grateful for the care I gave him.
I have never owned a bird but always admired them; after being so close to one even briefly it is very hard to let go. I know this is an awful lot to post but I just had to get my feelings out there and I don't know where else to turn.
If anyone is religous or spiritual in any sense, I urge you to pray or think happy thoughts for a fledgling sparrow named "Crypt Keeper" (I let my friend name him). He was a sweet and very affectionate little fellow who deserved a chance to fly but never will. 

[WhiskerMeister]

wow, that sucks. I'm sorry for your loss, man, but chances are his death was inevitable. there's no point in blaming yourself over something like that. it's always tragic when animals die. you did your best and that's what matters, i think; he wouldn't have had a chance otherwise, so even though fate frowned upon you this time, you gave him a fighting chance where he didn't have one before.

[Vertigon]

(trolling)

What the hell.

OT, that's terrible. I recently lost a dog that has been around since I was 4. It's painful, but sometimes you have to let go.

[ChairmanPoo]

Don't feel too bad. It often happens. I've taken birds in a few times. Sparrows in particular seem prone to die despite my best efforts at the time.

I had better luck with a magpie chicken, at a later date.

[DJ]

I can understand you being sad, but you shouldn't have interfered in the first place. Birds are wild animals, so you need to let nature take it's course. There's a hungry kitten somewhere, because you snatched the bird from cats.

[Cthulhu]

Our neighbor goes out of town a lot and we mow her lawn and stuff while she's gone.  A few years ago a robin's nest fell out of a tree and a neighbor dog killed all but one baby bird.  My mom found it and took it home.  We fed it some worms and then called a vet, who told us not to feed it stuff like that.

We didn't listen.  We raised that slick mofo, named him Nestor, taught him to fly, and once he was fully grown and had learned to catch food without our help we released him into the woods near Cowan lake.

He flew off, landed on a branch, and looked back, giving us a single curt nod.  I returned the nod. 

And Cowan Lake was one bird more awesome.

[Vertigon]

That's badass

[kcwong]

I don't have a bird-rescue story of my own, but let me show you this:

Visiting the Mountsberg Raptor Centre @ Johnny Wander (comic and blog post with photos)

Teddy's story is sad but at the same time so very cute.

[Qloos]

There was a robin on the job site that sat on the excavators hand rail as it spun about digging up the ground.  Every time the excavator dumped a fresh load of soil the robin would fly over and inspect it for worms.


There was a peck of adolescent finches chirping about on the ground, when a hungry crow flew in, stabbed one in the neck, and flew off indifferent to the angry chirps.


Once I was doing 60k on a back road and I hit a starling.  I turned on my windshield wipers without slowing down.

[JoshuaFH]

(trolling)

This must be one of those rare, disappearing posts you sometimes hear about.

[Lordinquisitor]

Man, that sucks. Trust me- I`ve had to rescue little birds myself a few times.

Our house is quite old, and many swallows build her nests under the roof every year.

Last year one little guy fell out of the nest- I nursed him and wanted to place him back into the nest.. But out of nowhere the cat, i had trapped inside, killed him. Needless to say i`m still pissed. (It was our lazy, fat cat who usually is too lazy to kill a mouse- But he had to kill that one bird!)

/

This year a whole nest felt down- With three babies inside.

The best thing you can do in such a case is placing them into another swallow nest- It worked and every little birdy survived. (Though the nest we placed them in was cramped) 

Though, it was close. They wouldn`t eat anything i offered them; But i assume they were just too shocked.

May your little birdy fly in heaven.

[Solifuge]

I'm a Biology student, and I've spent two years doing wild songbird rehabilitation. We deal with a lot of baby birds, and I know how it feels to have one die on you, especially after spending time caring for it. You showed another creature compassion, and that's what's important. Don't abuse yourself for not being able to do something that even professional bird rehabilitators have little success with. Forgive yourself, and learn from the experience.

Something that I've often told visitors to the Bird Center who bring in fledgling birds is that it's a necessary stage in a bird's life, where they hop around on the ground, forage for food with their parents, and build up their wing muscles. A lot of times, they don't make it either, be it because of predators and the concerns of survival, or any number of ways we impact the environment and ecosystem around us (cars, pet cats, lawn poisons, etc).

You can put a fledgling bird back in its nest, and the parents will still feed it, and that's all that can really be recommended, unless you're wiling to sit on Cat Watch with a low-pressure water hose... but remember that nothing is keeping that bird from hopping back down and fluttering around again. The bird makes its own choices, puts itself in harms way, and avoids danger by its own merit. It's the way of nature.

[mnjiman]

Yep, its just nature.

My recommendation would be to simply not get attached to things out in nature, or you are just going to end up hurting yourself.

A few blocks away from where I live there is this family of cats who live in a small forested area. They are doing perfectly fine, but local people are giving them food. Every time I see this i get pissed off. Simply put if you feed kittens who are learning to feed themselves, they will think food would just arrive to them.. and they will now know any better and end up dieing.

Let nature takes its course, things die things live.

[Labs]

That sucks dude. I had a baby robin a few months ago named Hans. I kept him in my room with the rest of the flock in his own cage. Fed him a blended mix of corn starch, blueberrys, eggs/shells, and sugar. I had him for two days and he grew attatched to me and my birds but we ended up dropping him off at a small, local wildlife sanctuary of sorts. I miss fuzzy little Hans but I'm sure he's off flying with the rest of the robins by now.

[ChairmanPoo]

had a baby robin a few months ago named Hans. I kept him in my room with the rest of the flock in his own cage. Fed him a blended mix of corn starch, blueberrys, eggs/shells, and sugar. I had him for two days and he grew attatched to me and my birds

I had a pigeon, he grew attached to my rat, but he eventually flew away

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