Feeding Baby Birds

FEEDING BABY BIRDS

I found the following information on
  (It is worth giving this and similar websites a visit.  Do not rely entirely on advice from u-tube.  Some of those feeding methods may not be very desirable)

Diets:


Seedeaters (excluding doves): Sparrow, Weavers and similar species.
These birds feed their babies on insects and should receive the same diet as for insectivorous birds.
  
 Doves: If you cannot obtain a commercially prepared, balanced food like Aviplus, use Pro-Nutro, mixed with water and with added egg yolk and/or cottage cheese for extra protein and calcium.
Or make a soft clay mixture, using only Pro-Nutro and egg yolk (no water) and form small, pea-sized balls (the bird will still need plenty of water, as this food will be quite concentrated.)
 WARNING:  A bird that does not beg or cooperate may have to be force-fed after rehydration. Take care in opening the beak, using a fingernail or matchstick, not to bend the beak - especially the tender beak of a baby
A good idea is to make the food mixture very sloppy and, as we said with rehydration, to release it (using a syringe) drop by drop on the closed beak, until the bird gets the message. This works especially well with tiny baby Doves or even insect eaters like baby Plovers.
WARNING: The food is intended for the bird's stomach, not its feathers and eyes. Let common sense prevail!
 
Insectivores: Cape Robin, Swallow, Shrike and similar species. A mixture of Pronutro, scrambled egg and lean mince.

Frugivores: Bullbul, Barbet, White-eye, Lourie and similar species. As for Insectivores, but add 50 percent Purity baby food or fruit.
  
Carnivores: Raptors, Coucal and similar species. Lean meat, preferably including internal organs and mixed with roughage such as sterilized feathers. Raptors are mostly fed on (dead, euthanased by gas) day old chicks, obtained from a hatchery.

South African National Bird of Prey Centre at 083 585 9540.
   

All Birds: A lack of calcium leads to irreparable bone deformities in baby birds. Add calcium, mineral and vitamin supplements.

By Gordon M Duncan and Wings in Need
http://www.wingsinneed.org.za/

Animaltalk October 1999
End

Penguin chicks die from cold

It is time we change the focus of conserving local species; to try and save the species of the world in places where they can survive.

We may need to move animals around and that is going to be very difficult.   We still know so little about ecosystems and even the function and interrelationships of the smaller life forms in the wild.

A

Article from Cape Times 17-06-010

The life of a goose in a busy city suburb

T

These photographs were taken by Wally. He had to try and stop the traffic in De Grendel rd. so that the geese could cross.
They can not fly yet and are at the mercy of dogs, people and other predators.
One year, at Rietvlei, we watched how they disappeared one by one over a period of about a week.

My Cape Garden 2 April 08

April garden update.

It seems to be a time of regeneration in my Cape garden.

I found a shell of a bird’s egg that hatched during the night or late yesterday. I think it is a dove egg, but I am not sure. It is amazing how small they are when they hatch. On the opposite end of the garden two dove chicks that hatched on April 1 still remain near the tree where they hatched. The parents are still feeding them.

At first light this morning I saw the silhouette of two chameleons interacting. By the time I got my got my camera, they just moved away from each other. They are perfecting camouflaged. I did not know I still have chameleons in our garden.

About a year ago my neighbor removed a hedge of honeysuckle. I know there were chameleons in the hedge so the next morning I went and see if I could find any before the collectors came to remove the branches. I rescued about nine and put them in my garden.

Birds also have family ties

I once caged a dove overnight because it was injured and could not fly. I noticed two other doves near the cage. The dove would desperately try to get out. The cage was at ground level and I would put birdseed on the outside of the cage for the other two to come and eat and then the one on the inside will feed simultaneously.

On the third day I let the dove out during the day. The other two would remain around her.

The dove got so used to returning to her cage for the night, that it became unnecessary to catch her. She would hop into the cage to retire for the night while the “male and chick” settled in a nearby tree.

I did not know for how long this would be necessary. Unfortunately I adopted a young dog from the nearby squatter camp and he killed the dove as it entered the cage to settle for the night. One cannot domesticate nature without pain.

After this experience I moved the cage within a fenced area. Dogs and cats could not get to it but the doves were free to come and go as they please.

I saved many doves, by locking them up in a safe place for the night if they cannot climb to a branch of a tree for the night.

Later I created low climbers for injured doves to get to the trees. They would hop from one low object to another until they get to the branches of the trees, then it is just a matter of hopping from one branch to another.

We also built an open nest on a pole where we would put nestlings that prematurely fell from a nest. It is always wonderful to see the parents feeding their chick after finding it, then coaxing it into the nearby tree. People so often remove fully feathered nestlings from where the parents can feed them.

It is my belief that birds have a better chance it they are left out in an environment that is natural to them.

When it comes to any bird or animal, stress remains the biggest killer.

Few people have the ability to create such an environment for birds.

Dove chicks left the nest

The dove chicks left the nest. The weavers were not so lucky. They are still building nests. It is still raining.

At Rietvlei the large birds just lost their trees. It is raining. The poor birds will have to look for another territory in this poor weather conditions

Read More

Read More

Dove Chicks

1 August 2007
The dove who is nesting in my palm tree has two chicks. fluffy featherless things . I hope they survive the coming rainy spell.