Susan,

Oh, the things we learn the hard way!

I hope you don't have a headache this morning, and hope the Bactine pevents infection.

It just goes to show the truth behind the saying "No good deed goes unpunished".

Have a wonderful day.

Dawn

Oh, my gosh! A blackbird hit our storm door yesterday. We had the door open inside the storm door so I guess the bird thought it was an open area. He hit really hard. DH went out to see what had happened and the bird was laying on the ground. No, he didn't have any of those red and yellow marks on his wings -- I asked. DH actually picked the bird up in his hands (gasp!) because he thought he was dead, and was bringing it to me to see. I said, "For Pete's sake! Don't DO that!!" I was about ready to get up and run in the other direction. All I could think about was what if the bird woke up and went postal on us?? So he took it outside our fence and dropped it on the ground. He said the bird started to move, looked at him for a little while, and then flew off!

We have a lot of cardinals around our house all the time because we put out sunflower seeds for them.

There is one male who has decided to fight with his own reflection in one of the east-facing windows of the TV room. This bird "attacks" his own reflection dozens of times a day. I don't understand why he is not brain-damaged or brain-dead because he attacks himself nonstop. We call him "Crazy Bird".

If a cat comes and sits at the window inside the house, he goes away until the cat goes away, and then he comes back. I've tried putting shiny, sparkley things there to scare him away and it doesn't work. I go over to the window and chase him off and it doesn't work. Obviously he thinks he has a rival on the other side of that window and he is fighting that rival.

I've checked the nearby trees and tall shrubs to see if his mate has a nest there and haven't found one either.

He is attacking his reflection in the window as I type this, and I guess he hits that window dozens of times per hour.

DS has "rescued" hummingbirds before that have gone into a stupor and fallen to the ground (not an uncommon thing) and usually places them in a shady area under some Texas hummingbird sage where the cats won't see them. If you sit and watch them for a few minutes, they snap out of their stupor, fly away a short distance and begin to feed.

Birds can be fascinating.

Dawn

I had to "re-nest" a young bird which had been thrown from the nest one blustery day last year. Glad to say that it's mum and dad continued to feed it and it fledged safely.

It's funny watching the Mocking Birds dive bomb the cats as they cross the garden. Well, they do with Wilson and Tommy but they give Alvin a wide berth. He'd probably snatch them out of the air.

I daren't feed the birds around the house. I'd be signing a death warrant.
When the House Finches nest in the hanging baskets on the patio I live on a knife edge. :-(

Mick

All great stories, you guys! I still have a tender spot on the head today, but nothing more. However, when I went outside this morning (the Bluejays nest in my pine tree), they were still voicing their opinion of me! LOL!

I was actually glad I had the experience, so that I now know not to bother their babies. I'm also impressed with their instinctual need to protect them.

I had never seen a baby and didn't know they don't develop their tail feathers when they are that young. So, I learned several things last night.

We had yellow finches downtown, and I worked at the modern building directly south of Bank of Oklahoma, and north of the Renaissance Center. The building is mirrored glass, and the birds were always flying into it, stunning themselves. I carried in a baby yellow finch one day. No mommas around, or they don't have the protective instincts of Bluejays. The guard there in the office by the door said, just give him the bird; he puts it under a styrofoam cup, where it stays quiet, is able to calm down, regain its wits, and then he releases it back outside. What a wonderful guy! That mirrored building attracts so many birds and butterflies, too. That's where I always saw the zebra longwings flying which do not populate Oklahoma at all. Presumably escaped the Myriad Gardens butterfly housing (indoors). But, I've never seen them anywhere else in the city except downtown.

I was thrilled when about 5 years ago, the Bank of Oklahoma decided to plant wildflowers in their planters around the building. They have all kinds like coreopsis, daturas, you name it. So, we had lots of butterflies downtown.

Anyway, I will restrain myself from attempting to rescue a baby bluejay in the future. I will have to curb my "mothering" instincts instead.

Dawn, I used to go to the Women's Center at Mercy for my mammograms. There were several cardinals that did that very same thing with the glass windows! What is it about them? They see their own reflections and go bonkers? They hit those windows and people were constantly jolted by the sound of those birds hitting the glass! I'd think it would only take one good slam into the window to teach it otherwise!

Susan

Oh, I have a good cardinal story.

Many years ago, when DS was a teenager, the cardinals built a nest in the red honeysuckle that grew outside his window. It was really cool because we could look out his window and right into the nest! We did it as much as we dared, the eggs hatched into naked little fledglings. Along about that time it stormed and the wind blew horrendously. We got worried about "our" baby birds and peeked out the window. There, seated firmly on the nest, covering it completely, with the tips of her wings stretched out and around the edge of the nest, sat a very determined mama Cardinal! She saw us looking, and looked us right back, as if to say, "Go ahead, make my day!" This was the same pair of cardinals that, when the cat got too close to the nest outside, the male cardinal would throw himself on the ground and act like he had a broken wing, making his alarm call while he flopped around. Truly, it is instinctive for the parents to give their lives to protect their young.

Yikes, Susan. I think I would be a little scared to even expose my head to them for a few days. Here's my story:

Last Saturday, when it was so hot out in the afternoon, I was doing some work in the yard, going up and down the steps to my deck and discovered a small, very bedraggled bird on the rail - sitting perfectly still. It looked a little like a robin, but I thought it was too small. All that afternoon it never moved from that spot, even when I passed by within a few feet.

Later that day, my daughter and her husband were over, and I was telling them about the bird. My daughter wanted to see it, so she and her husband went to look. It wasn't on the rail, but my son-in-law spotted it entangled in a vine near where I had seen it before. I figured it was near dead and that something would get it during the night.

Next morning it was still there, still not moving. I figured it was dead but then saw it just barely breathing. I was sitting there trying to decide if I should move it when I saw a robin on the roof nearby with a worm its mouth, chirping away. Finally the robin flew down and fed the little bird two or three times and it started chirping and moving a little. The mama bird would get another worm, land a short distance away and start chirping, as if to say "Come on, baby. You can do it." It reminded me of the video my other daughter had sent the day before of my grandbaby trying to walk. What a good mama.

I love the birds, I just have to be careful not to mess with them when they have their yung-uns around.

All great stories, BTW! I love the Cardinal and the Hummingbird story and think that could be made into a Children's book, kind of like Dr. Seuss's story about the elephant who sits on the bird's nest while she flits off everywhere, and when the egg hatches it's a flying elephant?

Ilene - those were my exact thoughts about the baby Bluejay. People probably wonder why I went to such lengths to try to rescue a bluejay! But, I kept thinking about the cats that roam outside--good catfood for them, and I didn't want the cats or anything else to kill it.

I now have no doubts about the Bluejays' ability to protect their babies.

Susan

Just for future reference, the first order of business when you find a baby bird is to determine if it's a nestling or fledgling. Fledglings may be out of the nest because Mom & Dad have decided it's time to learn to fly and get food for itself. Nestlings can be returned to the nest, if you can find it.

You should not ever plan on trying to raise a wild bird yourself. Not only is it very difficult and rarely successful, it's also illegal unless you have certain permits or licenses.

Here's a link to Cornell's page on orphaned baby birds which has some very good information about how to tell nestlings from fledglings and what to do if you find a baby bird.

The other thing you can do if you are certain you've found one that really is orphaned, as in no parents around, is call Rondi Large at Wildcare. I have sent her injured and orphaned wild critters on more than one occasion. She is a very nice lady and has all the necessary licenses. Taking in and taking care of orphaned and injured wild creatures is what she does.

And, definitely wear a helmet next time!

I think they take them at Sutton's, too, but I'm not sure. I know eagles and such would be but not sure about the songbirds.

Mockingbirds are usually the worst about dive-bombing you if you get too close to their nests. They have the ability to peck a cat on the same place each time they swoop down, eventually making a bloody wound if some human doesn't intervene.

A friend of mine rescured a Robin during the heavy rainstorms. Last time I talked to her she was on her third carton of Walmart fishing worms. She said it was amazing how much the little bird could eat. They put it in the backyard and it ran around awhile then jumped on her husband's finger. They were hoping it would decide to fly away soon.

You have to be careful housing anything wild, I think. I believe you have to have a license in OK to keep any wild animal. I need to read up on that and see if it includes birds.

Soonergrandmom, tell your friend to get a can of canned cat or dog food, and a small paint brush. (pointed tip, like you would do detailing with, with bristles at least 1/4 inch long; a size 1 works well) You scoop out a little canned food on the bristle end, and when the bird opens it's mouth, just shovel it in. I learned that trick at the National Zoo (Washington D.C.) about 40 years ago, back when they gave little demonstrations for schoolchildren about how to care for a wild baby bird. Now of course, "they" recommend leaving it to the Pros and not even touching it, but back then, I guess they just assumed people would try to help, and figured they might as well teach them how. ;^)

Anyway, dog/cat food is considerably cheaper than fishing bait, and the birds that I've temporailly taken in over the years have thrived on it.

Thanks for the info, but I hope it is gone by now. They just found it on the ground after the rainstorm and hoped to get it strong enough to fly.

Lots of marvelous advice here! I also kept thinking "what if it can't be returned to its nest"? I have been too afraid to check the spot where it landed. Afraid I'll find nothing but feathers. Altho, I have more faith in the Bluejay mommas and daddys protecting their young. If I got it pretty good, a cat or other smaller animal would have been beaten senseless!

I don't know if it was a nestling or fledgling. I know it had not developed tail feathers yet. I'm gonna check out the site you recommended Devilwoman (what a name! LOL).

Susan

Well, I found parts of the bluejay on the ground yesterday, so evidently it could not fly yet. I wondered that it couldn't without tail feathers to guide it yet.

I should have tried harder - gone in the house and put something on my head, and then called a wildlife rescue service. Bluejays are listed on their website, Devilwoman. Apparently the population is declining, but I find plenty in my yard, along with cardinals, finches, robins, and those godawful grackles that I could quite do without.

So ends the story of the baby bluejay.

Susan

Susan,

Sorry about the baby bluejay. That's how nature works, though.

At least now you have an idea of what to do "next time".

Dawn

Oh dear, sorry to hear that.

On a brighter note I have a resident Blue Jay who is hard at work clearing out the Carrot Beetles that are plaguing one of my veg plots. He's been having a real old feast these last couple of weeks, sitting on the fence, cracking them open and spitting out the shells all over the place.

Mick.

Maybe this baby was kicked out of the nest because they had too many??? Either way, it wasn't around for long.

Yes, I do have birds in the yard that consume insects, but also my caterpillars and butterflies! Yikes!

I'm raising a Red Admiral cat right now. It sews a leaf shut and feeds from the inside until the bottom portion of the leaf is gone, and then it moves on to another leaf. They are darling caterpillars.

I also brought in 4 manduca eggs (hornworms) from my datura. Two are turning black, which means they are ready to hatch. They are such fun to raise. When they get bigger, you can actually hear them munching the foliage and believe me, they eat really, really fast.

Susan

I'm really surprised to hear that bluejays are endangered. Seems like there were always so many of them as I was growing up. Maybe they are going the way of the horned lizard. I've seen a few in my yard but not as many as I remember from the past. I have cardinals, hummingbirds, robins, wrens, catbirds (I think) and brown thrashers. I watched one of the thrashers in my sheet-composted vegetable patch the other day, tossing around the mostly-decomposed cardboard from last year and the dry leaves. So that's why they're called thrashers.

I have a pair of owls, too, and this morning I saw one grab a robin and make breakfast of it while another robin - the mom, maybe, raised a ruckus. I wonder if it was the baby that was on my deck rail last weekend.

When we first moved here, I wanted to "save" every bird and critter that needed help, and quickly learned no one else around here was as worried about the wild things as I was.

Our first year, a big owl crashed THROUGH the fiberglass skylite panel on the roof of the chicken coop. He cut his head and hurt a wing. I called all over southern Oklahoma and no one (least of all the local Fish and Wildlife people) were interested in helping that owl. I was crushed. Finally, we moved him to an adjacent small guinea coop/pen and put the guineas in with the chickens. We left the door open, and he finally flew away on his own after several days. I refused to catch mice for him, so he had to live on canned cat food for those few days.

I guess if you live in an area where wildlife is very abundant, people don't get as excited about one injured bird. If blue jays are engangered, you can't tell it here! We probably are overpopulated with birds, though, because we put out food for them and have a constant water source. I HAVE noticed that there are more birds than usual hanging out around the garden and eating bugs in the garden. Birds are a terrific method of pest control, so I encourage them in every way possible.

We ALWAYS have a pair of owls who stay together all the time and hunt together. One is a really big barn owl, and we call him Hooty. The other is a little screech owl, obviously named Screechy. You never see one without the other, which is fascinating. They've been here as long as we have. I don't know if the current Hooty and Screechy pair are the actual same Hooty and Screechy pair that we first saw in 1999. I think it is an odd pairing. I feel sorry for them....the crows harass them relentlessly and try to run them off. Our owls are mostly out at night, but every now and then I see them out late in the morning. For all the birds we have coming to the feeders, predator birds do not come into the yard much. Maybe the cats and dogs help keep them away? Oh, and the Purple Martins also like to chase off other birds attempting to "hunt" in their territory too.

Dawn

Susan, I'm sorry to hear about the baby jay. I know it's distressing. I've put baby birds back in the nest a couple of times, usually sparrows though. Next time, if there is one, look to see if you can locate the nest. I've read that the old saying about parent birds abandoning babies touched by humans is not true, that birds have a limited sense of smell, but even so I usually get a towel or paper towel to put over them to pick them up. Just be sure to wear a helmet if it's another blue jay!

The nickname is one I was given by a former boss. He nicknamed everyone! It's what I generally use whenever I have to register a username somewhere, providing it's not already taken. You can just call me Debra. I intend to sign my posts with my name, following Dawn's (and others') excellent example, but I frequently forget until after I have hit the "Submit" button. I'm accustomed to using forums that have a script you can set up to automatically add a signature to the end of each post, but this one doesn't seem to have that capability.

Okprairie, I don't think bluejays are endangered. Susan is referring to a list at Wildcare of species they have seen/helped over the years.

Debra

No, they are not endangered - but the site indicated that their population is declining - two different things.

I wish the sparrow population was at the minimum, declining! And, especially the grackles!

There is an owl around here somewhere because I always hear it in the morning and evening. I just have not been able to see it.

Last year, I had cedar waxwings in the backyard, but not this year. Wonder why? I have lots of cardinals. Also haven't seen the finches I normally get. I even have a finch feeder. But, I also had lots of sunflowers out front (which they loved--the smaller seed type). As you know, they were mowed down, and I haven't replanted any of them.

I think our mothering instincts kick in when we find an injured animal - whether it's endangered, a pest, a baby or adult. I know mine does, or I wouldn't have risked being pummeled by a bluejay.

They always scream when my cat goes outdoors with me. Altho, my cat could care less. He just ignores them. He did manage to catch a squirrel one year. I was out watering and sprayed him with a hard blast of water til he let go of the poor thing. He's older now, and not quite as fast as he used to be.

Debra - yes, I went immediately to the site you suggested and that's where I found the information on the bluejays. Or, maybe it was somewhere else. I just know that for a few years, they disappeared from my garden entirely. They showed up again last year, and there are more here this year. Since I don't spray or use chemicals in my yard, I guess it is a safe haven and a grocery store for them.

Susan

Hi, I'm new here but wanted to add to the bird stories. A pair of mockingbirds made a nest in my rose bush this spring & I thought it was so neat to watch them. At first they flew up to the roof & scolded me when I went out to work in the flowerbeds, then swooped down at me as tho to scare me away. (which they accomplished) I always apologized to them & told them I was hurrying. I think the progression was nest building, eggs, then when the babies hatched they let me have it. I was bent over to pull a weed when one flew thru my hair & the other one pecked me on the behind. Needless to say the flowers got weedy till the babies fledged.
My sister once found a whole nest with baby robins that had blown out of the tree in a storm. She & DH did their best to put the nest back together & lined it with a piece of carpet scrap. It seemed to work & the babies did fine when their parents came back.

Susan, are you quite sure it's an owl? Unless you're on the edge of town or near an open field it seems unlikely you'll find owls in town.

I had a friend come by to visit one morning while I was still in an apartment who told me there were owls around the complex. When I asked why he thought that, he just said, "Listen." He was hearing a sound he interpreted as an owl hooting. In reality, the sound was doves cooing. I lived in that apartment for eleven years before buying my first house last autumn. Seems like it's been about five to seven years ago that I first started seeing white-winged doves there. More recently, maybe in the past two years, I started seeing Eurasian collared doves. You might click those links and listen to their calls to see if one of those might be what you're hearing.

I know my backyard is full of both kinds! I put seed out on the ground inside a stone ring the neighbor says the previous owner planted annuals in. When I come home in the evening there are usually at least a half dozen white-winged doves out there.

Debra

I don't know, Debra. Could be a dove, but it is a definite "who who who" sound. I have heard the doves and know for sure what they sound like, and this sounds entirely different.

I've never seen the doves around here, altho one time a few years back, I had a Pheasant fly in and rest on my fence. Very strange, huh? Also, I had a duck that was waddling down the sidewalk one day (a female Mallard). We have some very large ditches that collect the runoff from the highways, and lots of trees in my neighborhood. I've also found a wandering red stripe turtle (? not sure name; very large) walking down the sidewalk one day.

I don't have speakers on the 'puter, so will just have to wonder.

PattyOkie - welcome to the forums! We love new people here! That is such a funny story about the mockingbirds. They will attack and swoop like the bluejays for sure. They are every bit as protective of their babies.

Susan