SaintP, I'm sorry your squirrel disappeared. She probably was injured too badly to survive for long. Just a few comments in case anything similar happens again. (I used to work for Florida Audubon and did a lot with rehabbing at that time, even had a license to care for baby birds. We got LOTS of baby squirrels). First, Heather W is right that rabies is not a big concern with squirrels. There hasn't been a documented cases of a rabid squirrel in something like 65 years or more. For some reason, they seldom ever get it. Secondly, they CAN and will BITE like crazy, and it can be quite painful and get infected easily. So the advice (and your instinct) not to try to pick the animal up by hand were absolutely correct. Especially a squirrel in pain...you might be hurting them badly, and they would naturally bite in defense. And third, the advice not to call a vet does not hold true for all vets. Some are quite well trained in the care of birds and other wild animals and will gladly treat one. You just need to know if your vet is one of those or not. Believe me, I have carried countless injured birds to the clinic in Altamonte that Audubon used at that time. And other animals, as well. They were always treated when the vet felt it was possible to save their lives. So this all depends on the policy and training of the vet in question. And even my regular vet will advise me honestly on whether or not an injured animal is too seriously injured for me to take care of. If the animal is too far gone, he will euthanize for a minimum fee, but he has no problem in telling me how to care for an injured animal that he thinks can be rehabbed. I think you did your very best for this little squirrel, and probably made its last days much more comfortable. Good for you for caring so much! Marcia

Hi everyone....thanks again for the responses. I'm sad to say that the Quaker parrot did not survive. It died on it's own at the avian clinic this evening after incubation care and other vet stuff. I'm really bummed. :( Apparently, it had major internal injuries and some of the swelling put pressure on the spine which caused the paralysis. They think it flew into the side of a building or something - but not recently...several days ago. The vet also confirmed it was actually a wild parrot and NOT a pet/tamed parrot. The extent of its injuries is what made it seem so docile and tame. The eyes and feet indicate tame or wild (...you probably already know this Manature) - dark eyes/feet are wild parrot indicators. I know I tried and so did the others to help (the Florida West Coast Avian Society rescue group tried and the vet clinic). It just sucks sometimes that you can't save them all no matter what you do. :( Anyway, this is the name of the group that will do parrot rescue and have a bird focus. I have to admire anyone who dedicates their lives in trying to rescue something so eager to bite you! The Florida West Coast Avian Society http://www.fwcas.org/

Glad to hear the bird was ok. There is a good bit of information on how to help an injured bird on the Bird Watching forum, it is at the top of the forum.

mlkbskt (Margie, right?) I am cheating a little to get these pics. Got a tip about five years ago (from a really good photographer) to get better pics of the Blues if you offer mealworms, to put a branch or something they can land on before going to the feeder. So I used to find a nice large branch in our woods and pound a fence post in next to the deck and attach the branch to it so they would land on there before going into the feeder. My mealworm feeder is a wooden jailhouse style one that my husband made (this keeps other larger birds like BlueJays and Robins from eating all the mealworms) and it is clamped onto a wooden 3step ladder. I used to set it just on the deck but the Robins figured out if they pushed really hard they could get into the feeder, with it being on the ladder they cannot do this anymore. This year I decided to do things a little different and put the branches in large flowerpots with vining plants in the pots then I just went from there and came up with this.... I really like this on the deck. All the flowers make the ugly feeder look much better. So in my pictures the birds have landed on these branches on the deck. The feeder is out about 16 feet from my dining room window so I just stay in the house and snap away. Donna