Baby Blackbird advice please

[greenday1978]

Hi everybody,

My cat managed to catch a baby blackbird Christmas night. I'm not sure if he got it out of its nest or if it fell out by itself. I have been doing my best to hand raise it and it seems to be doing really well. I have a few questions which I hope somebody here may be able to answer. I have absolutely no experience with birds. Up until I found him, I really wasn't much of a bird person, but I've grown quite fond of him. He's a beautiful little thing, and I will be very sad to see him go. I phoned the local fauna rescue hotline in my area, but they are unable to take him as they do not have anybody near me who can care for him.

Is there a way to tell if it's a male or female?

How old would it be? It had no feathers underneath his belly when I found him, but now he is fully covered with feathers, and his tail has grown about 1 cm since he has been here. He didn't have much of a tail when I found him.

He didn't seem too injured when I picked him up. I think my cat grabbed him by the top of his wing, as it looked like there were some feathers missing, and looked slightly injured. He also has I think a birth defect. The claws on one of his feet kind of twist in a bit, and the back claw doesn't grab around my finger - it curls back and sticks up (so the nail is pointing upwards to his belly).

I was concerned that when I let him go, his mother would not be around, or would reject him, and he wouldn't be able to fend for himself. When I first found him, I had to put food in his mouth, and if I didn't do it far back enough he couldn't eat what I gave him. I've been trying to get him to pick food up for himself from the ground, and tonight he finally did it all by himself!

I'm also trying to help him to fly when I can. I hold him and gently flick my hands up so he can learn to fly. He can fly short distances, and can land on his feet now. He doesn't seem to want to fly. He doesn't ever take off by himself.

I'm wondering how long it will be until he is able to fly properly. Also wondering if his foot will cause him any problems when I release him.

If there is any chance that he will be an easy target for my or another cat, I don't want to release him. This would be my last option. I can't keep him because I don't have the space or a cage big enough. I'm wondering how big the cage would need to be for a bird like this.

Sorry for all the questions. I've really got no idea about birds. I'm doing my best

Thanks for anybody who takes the time to answer.

[Marrie]

Is there a wildlife rehab anywhere near you? They could probably answer your questions and even take him if he's injured too much to be wild to place him somewhere with others of his kind. I don't know much about wild black birds, I doubt they have gender markers on them though they all look pretty similar.

[britany]

If the mother rejected the bird it would have died when it was just born so maybe it was a grown black bird? but anyway you can feed it fruits and seed to keep its diet healthy and balanced.


If you keep the bird for too long and release it, it may not be able to survive in the wild again...........

[Wuv_Bird]

I agree with looking for a rehab center/wildlife even if it isn't one nearby, just keep scouting around. Because the bird is quite young, he would normally be learning how to survive in the wild from his parents at this point. I in no way mean to fault you for saving him; he'd probably not be alive of you hadn't. However, between him becoming conditioned to humans, missing a very critical learning period, and being injured, his odds of survival in the wild are not good.

[greenday1978]

Hi,

Thanks for your replies everybody.

The bird is a baby - he's growing more and more each day. I was concerned that the parents may have rejected him because he may have had a human smell.

I did originally contact fauna rescue, and they advised me to keep feeding him until he was strong enough to fly away. I did call them again today, and had a discussion with them. They seem to think it would be best if I kept him, for a couple of reasons... firstly because he talks to me (I was in the loungeroom last night I called out 'birdie birdie'. He responded to me. I did it again, and he responded again. He only did it when I spoke), and he is not as frightened of my cat as he was. He is in his cage (I let him out to practice flying when the cat is not around), and generally the cat goes nowhere near him because he knows he gets told off. A couple of times I have walked in and the cat has jumped up to where he is and was just sitting there looking at him. The bird may not react quickly enough if a cat tried to attack him if he was free. They said that his foot shouldn't be a problem, and that he will adapt.

They did say that I could let him out, and put his cage outside with the door open. They said if he comes back and gets inside the cage, then he doesn't want to be free. But they said that he was likely to be get attacked by a cat if he did go free.

So, I would really like to keep him. I think it may be the best thing to do. I may have made things worse for him, but I guess he is alive because of me. What do other people think?

I asked if he would be okay with a companion. They said that birds who eat different foods should not be kept with him because of problems when their droppings mix. If I did keep him, what kinds of birds would be okay to put with him. I thought I would get a second one - not sure if he needs a companion or not though.

Thanks
Sandra

[Nocturnal]

Excuse me, I just wonder... if he is doing well and you don't want to give him up, why do it? Birds that have been raised by humans don't have that great a chance in the world, and you'll just stress him by moving him to some wildlife rehab where they'll likely just keep him as a resident anyway... Cage space shouldn't be too big. You say blackbird, do you mean redwing, a starling, what? They're not that large and a medium sized parrot cage with open space in the middle for him to hop between perches should be sufficient. I don't think he needs companion if he is friendly with you.