Saving Baby Birdie's Life

As I create this birdie blog and search through all the pictures we took almost daily, I am amazed how FAST baby sparrows grow and develop!

Not long after we rescued Birdie from imminent death, Birdie began to grow and thrive! Once baby learned how to eat from us with the tweezers mimicking a real bird beak, the daily developmental changes were downright astounding!! Just two days after falling from the nest, Birdie's eyes opened!

Each morning we would wake up to feed Birdie, and were always surprised with the striking physical changes, new strength and developing feathers pushing outwards from the stalks. Birdie seemed to recognize us individually and get really excited to see us. I annoyed my family by my high pitched repetitious "birdie, birdie, birdie, birdie" response calls to Birdie's chirps to me! Birdie learned to respond to my voice, and would answer me from various areas of the house! (video of this later in the blog!)

Birdie needed to be fed as often as possible (every 20-40 minutes, sun up to sun down), and would let whomever was home know it was time for feeding, by chirping very loudly! It was a challenge in the beginning as Birdie's neck was so limp and wobbly. Each day, we would wake up wondering if we would be greeted with happy chirps... or sad quietness... but Birdie thrived and survived, beating all the odds!

Here Birdie's little stalk feathers are coming in fast!

Within just days, Birdie's eyes open more

and hisher feathers begin to fill in even more

Birdie's feathers are coming in, in various colors

note the little white/beige accents underneath

 Even though Birdie's feathers are coming in great

hisher disabled neck is still twisted and floppy. We just don't know if

heshe was born this way, or was terribly injured in the fall from the nest

Here baby Birdie sits on human "daddy-bird's" chest
for warmth and closeness to a living being.

Sadly Birdie doesn't get to feel the constant movements

 of hisher real bird parents and nestmates, but we tried to

imitate real bird contact for himher as often as possible

 Here you can see Birdie's deformed neck

 

Birdie's fluttering hisher wings

and stretching out!!!

At the end of just one week, Birdie had transformed from a weak helpless injured baby, to a little baby bird that appeared to have turned the survival corner and was going to make it!!! Baby was growing and developing so fast, we had to move the original little plastic nest container into a larger pet carrier I had just happened to save from the kid's previous varieties of little pets such as mice, rats, tiny green snakes, etc

I was still furiously reading online about raising wild abandoned baby sparrows and found so many interesting websites. I even found a site describing how to make a tiny neck support brace for baby birds with neck deformities or injuries. We still weren't sure the root of Birdie's neck issue, so I continued to read about everything sparrow related, but let nature take nature's course.

Also at this time, we questioned ourselves, as well as others inquiring, if we were planning to eventually set Birdie free... again back to online research and the wonderful bird rescue websites discussing "Imprinting" of wild creatures on their human rescuers...

And while reading... look what was mentioned regarding a sparrow's growth, development and LONGEVITY! 

"Sparrow eggs hatch in 11 days. The baby birds fledge when only 14 days old and are on the ground for a day or two when first leaving the nest. The young are independent 7-10 days after leaving the nest. They also have a relatively long life span (the record for a wild sparrow is 23 years ), although their typical lifespan in the wild is much shorter. In captivity, they have a life expectancy of 12 to 14 years. We know of one pet who lived to be 15 years of age."