I ended up with some berry gatorade as they didnt have clear or watermelon gatorade. I think he drank his fill earlier though. He had fallen and when I put him on back on the flowers, he was just jumping from flower to flower nectaring and I dont know how much nectar they need. He didnt seem interested in the gatorade, but then, he doesnt seem interested in the flowers right now so maybe he got the nourishment he needs for the time being. Butterflutter, I dont have a spare wing. And I really dont think it is that easy to do. If I could, I would fix his wing because I feel very badly.

He or she is a bird, s/he is used to being outside all the time, even in the rain, so s/he may not feel as bad about the situation as you do. Bring him in, leave him out, or take him to a wildlife rehabilitation center, there still may not be much you or anyone else can do for him if he has internal injuries. Depends on how involved you want to become. I worked at a wildlife rehab place for five years. There is only so much one can do. You can try to help if you want, but realize that sometimes carp happens. Try to find a local nature center or library or someplace that can give you the number of a wildlife rehabber. Maybe just talking to that person on the phone can help you assess what can be done. Often, when birds break their wings, especially if it is small bird, they can't bet set and can't ever fly again. Sometimes they can, but the failure rate is much higher than the sucess stories. I'm not trying to be callous, I know how you feel, believe me, any compassionate person would feel the same. But this is a bird's life. This happens to millions of birds all the time, you just don't see it. Window crashes are a huge cause of bird fatalities. Some even argue that it is the number one cause of mortality, even beyond predators.

Thank you for the food for thought - I guess I never really thought she was angry because she doesn't really sound angry when she's talking. And maybe that's what I find so bizarre: it's as if during the course of a normal conversation she starts in without any warning (and usually there's no relevance to whatever the topic is), and with no change of tone of voice and usually with a smile still on her face. You are absolutely correct when you say her life is of her own making, and to be honest, I'm not sure what her real beef is. She has a well paying job, a nice boyfriend, and a decent place to live. Her dad and I live about 1/2 hour away and see her a couple times a month. We moved here a couple of years ago, and she followed with the stated intention of attending a 4 year university which is about an hour away. She had been accepted for the fall semester this year, but then failed all her classes the semester before so was ultimately told she would have to reapply. Now she's got the opportunity to transfer in the Spring semester, but is saying she doesn't know if she wants to do that, she wants to live closer to campus, it's too far to commute, one reason after another why she can't do what she said she wanted to do. She consistently makes impulsive decisions that aren't well thought out, then doesn't seem to realize that she had the choice to make a different decision. When she's complaining, it's always somebody elses fault that she's unhappy or upset. Even when she failed her classes she blamed it on her bad roommates, but never did seem to get that she could have chosen different roommates, or at least checked out the ones she ended up with a little more thoroughly. I feel like we've been as supportive as anybody could reasonably expect: we've had her living with us off and on over the last 3 years, and we give her financial assistance as long as she's working towards her degree. DH and I are in agreement that she won't be living with us again - it's just too much drama in the house. Anyway, thanks for listening and responding - you really did give me a different perspective and I think I will try to suggest to her that she gets some counseling the next time she starts in when we're alone. And as far as Christmas goes, we're going to do something different this year: since it will just be the 4 of us, we're going for a bike ride on the beach, then out for Thai food. I told DH that we need to do something to try to deflect all that negativity, and hopefully this will be novel enough to do just that. Happy Holidays - Becky

I criss-cross fishing line over the chook pen, though it is 7ft high, the crows don't see it and try to fly in and hit the line. It doesn't seem to hurt them just gives them a rough landing so they go somewhere else. Works for chicken hawks as well. My father used to do this too. He also used to put rat traps on the roof, not set, but the crows didn't know that. Another thing he stumbled on was when he sprinkled some powdered lime around the pen (apparently deters lice) the crows didn't come anywhere near the place.