Baby Bird Rescue

We have a nest under the eaves right by our back door, and this morning, a young bird was flapping around in it and looked like it was stuck.  We watched for a bit hoping that he would be ok on his own, but then it became obvious that he was truly stuck and was not going to get out on his own.  We then had to initiate a baby bird rescue.  I got the ladder out of the garage and climbed up to his nest.  I wasn’t able to pull him out without injuring him further, so I took part of the nest out with him.  His leg was embedded in the mud and droppings that make up the nest, and had to be cut off of him.

The poor little guy’s leg was swollen and injured, and his tail feathers were thrashed.  He was able to fly within the little cage that we put him in for recuperation, but his chances in the wild are questionable due to his gimpy leg and thrashed tail feathers.  The mommy bird was sitting on a tree branch as close as she could get and kept tweeting to the baby.  To give him some time to recuperate in partial safety, we made him a little protected nest in a part of the garden that the dog can’t get to.  He sat in his nest for about an hour before he flew off.  Hopefully his mom will help him and he will be ok with his gimpy leg.