My husband and his buddy found the little guy at work this afternoon, and in their wisdom couldn't find its nest etc. He brought it to me a minute ago - hasn't gotten food or water since at least noon...

I have calls in to the county extension and also a wildlife rehabber, but one is closed and the other clueless... Need help!!!

I think they eat 'bugs' but not sure if worms will work... Also, the little guy won't drink... I've tried dunking his beak and dripping water. What else can I do??

Any and all help greatly appreciated!!!

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), May 02, 2001

Answers

Hi Sue!

Your little guy there is a precocial bird, i.e., he can feed himself and run around on his own within a short time after hatching. However, this doesn't mean he's self-sufficient. Get him on heat (if he's in a box or a fishtank, put a heating pad underneath on low). Provide him with water in a low dish. As far as diet is concerned, one of the books I have recommends a diet of chick feed (recipe follows) and after 30 days, add earthworms/crickets/mealworms - about 50/50. The chick feed recipe is:

1 cup ground high-protein dog food 1/2 cup turkey starter or poultry pellets 2 hard-boiled egg yolks 1/4 cup cooked Roman Meal cereal 1/4 cup fish food or trout pellets 1 teaspoon steamed boane meal

Combine ingredients thoroughly; texture should be crumbly. Seperate into smaller portions; freeze until needed. Thawed mixture will keep 3 days in fridge. Begin with amount equal to 25% of body weight. Replenish every 2-3 hours as consumed. Discard unused portion at end of day.

Do try to find a liscensed rehabber asap. This little guy will imprint on you, and may not be releasable if that happens. Good luck, and email me if you have any more questions.

By the way, this particular recipe is for shore birds. I have additional recipes if needed, but please, if anyone out there finds an "abandoned" or "lost" bird, don't rush in to save it - it might not need saving! Oftentimes, mama bird is quite close. Unless there is an immediate danger (such as from a cat or a torrential downpour), just step back and watch from a distance - you will probably see mama come down and feed it.

-- Judi (ddecaro@snet.net), May 02, 2001.

Thanks Judy !!

Did find that rehabber, and will hopefully be applying to get my 'license' here shortly. I've saved the info, though - one can never tell.

I have to say that I did ask if they had looked around for parents, nest, etc... Rich said that they did. He learned a big lesson for his first time playing good sam, lol! We put 135 miles on getting him to that rehabber... Told him that he couldn't put forth that much effort and then just let the little guy die here, so we drove him to the other side of Boise. Hopefully, it won't stop him from doing it again, but WILL make him put forth more effort before just bringing something home, lol!!

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), May 03, 2001.

Sue, I work at a farm where we raise annuals, perrenials, vegetables and apples. We have a lot of open fields and a lot of kildeer. We have one pair that has nested in a plant pot on a big pad with a dripline system of irrigation. The female either takes the dripline out or uses a pot with the dripline already out. There is a very short period of time when the young are still in the nest (about 24 hours or so), then they run around all over the place, but are unable to fly for awhile. When the pair is setting, one stays on the nest and the other runs interference. The one off the nest will first act injured and try to lure us away. If this doesn't work, we get dive- bombed! Last year they nested right in the middle of a big group of bleeding heart pots and I ended up crawling in to get the last few pots when we had a need for them. This year I'm hoping they nest in rudbekia or some other late-blooming perrenial so they can all hatch before we have need of the plants! I'm sending this after you've already dropped the little guy off at the rehabers, but I thought you might like the story.

-- Sheryl Adams (radams@sacoriver.net), May 05, 2001.

I'm working on an outdoor project right next to a poor kildeer nest. She laid the eggs about 2-three weeks ago so she should be about halfway through. But we could not avoid working in that spot, and each day she spends several hours being very stressed, though so far she has not abandoned the nest. In addition a mockingbird harasses them all day. I tried giving her a pile of grubs as a peace offering but the mockingbird seemed more interested in them than the kildeer did. If she has not abandoned the nest after two weeks of constant human presence and disturbances, does that mean that we can count on her sticking it out? Any other way you can think of that we can help her out?

-- jamie (jamie@apva.org), June 21, 2001.