# wild bird question... help needed.



## thesilverbeast (Oct 9, 2007)

hello,

theres a fairly young bird outside my house on the road. its got what seems to be all the feathers and the "parents" are flying around over the top. the thing is this thing cant fly and barely tried to move away from me. i moved it onto the nature strip and off of the middle of the road.


what more should i do?


will it survive like this?

ill find a pic of the species in a minute, just wanted to get replies as soon as possible.


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## junglepython2 (Oct 9, 2007)

If it can't fly it will more then likely turn into cat food. Sounds like it left the nest a bit early.


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## thesilverbeast (Oct 9, 2007)

so what could i do to avoid that?


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## symbol (Oct 9, 2007)

It is the season for baby birds. All I can suggest is you make a make shift nest out of a ice cream tub and secure it as high into the tree as possible.

I would like to see a pic and id it before I suggest any further.


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## junglepython2 (Oct 9, 2007)

symbol said:


> It is the season for baby birds. All I can suggest is you make a make shift nest out of a ice cream tub and secure it as high into the tree as possible.
> 
> I would like to see a pic and id it before I suggest any further.


 
Depends on what bird it is and how old. If it is a bird of significane a wildlife carer will take it. 
We had the exact same thing happen to a baby magpie which is currently being raised here, it's alot of work though. Not that I am doing it.


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## thesilverbeast (Oct 9, 2007)

its a wattle bird. 


pretty distinct, nothing else like it down here in melbourne and also the range of that bird ive just read matches.


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## junglepython2 (Oct 9, 2007)

It's a tricky one, I doubt wildlife carers would take a wattle bird in. How far from being able to fly do you think it is?


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## thesilverbeast (Oct 9, 2007)

well its feathers seem to be fully formed, its just not trying or moving much

it squirmed a little bit when i picked it up but when i put it down it didnt try to run or anything. 

but having said that it could have been sitting there all day. its the first time ive been out.


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## nuthn2do (Oct 9, 2007)

It's probably fledging, if the parents are feeding or interacting with it don't worry.


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## cris (Oct 9, 2007)

Leave it alone its a fledging bird, its normal for many birds to do that. If its goin to die you can always freeze it for reptile food.


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## waruikazi (Oct 9, 2007)

Sounds like it could be a bit crook and i don't know that i would rate its chances in captive care. Personally, because it sounds like there was no human cause to it leaving the nest too early, i would leave it for nature to take its course or do as little intervening as possible. Perhaps returning it to the nest or placing it in a box up a tree where it will be safer, but that would be about all i would do for it.


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## Bourbs (Oct 9, 2007)

From my experience wattle birds will tend to play dead to a certain extent and then suddenly spring to life and try to rip your fingers off with their claws.. But being that it is a juv it may just be having a little trouble. 
One thing you can try is picking the bird up and taking it over to a tree, hold the bird up and see if it jumps up into the branches on its own.. If that fails I would contact a carer, or maybe go with what Symbol said about the makeshift nest, and make sure the parents see where you put it. The bird may also be hungry/thirsty - I'm not sure how warm the weather over there is at the moment but sometimes if a bird is stuck on the road for a while they will get dehydrated and become very weak very quickly and will bounce right back after they have a drink. Hopefully this has helped a bit


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## thesilverbeast (Oct 9, 2007)

well its gone now, i dont know where it got to. 


it was wierd, if it could fly why didnt it? 


it was sitting in the middle of the road, and i had to touch it gently to even see if it was alive when i went up to it. i picked it up, it barely struggled and chirped a little bit but didnt try to move away when i put it down, it turned to face me though. maybe it was prepared to bite me but i didnt test it out as i was trying to disturb it as little as possible. 

so again, if it could move, why wouldnt it have when a big scary creature came to it? 



perhaps a cat got it?


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## cris (Oct 9, 2007)

fledging birds often get eaten by things like goannas, cats, dogs etc. Its a very vunerable time of their lifecycle.


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## Bourbs (Oct 9, 2007)

I'd say playing dead.. The whole idea of "if I dont move it wont eat me" seems to be a common thing with young birds.

I had a friend bring me a "sick" wattle bird a year or two ago.. Her cat had been playing with it and she had gotten it off him and brought it over because she thought it was really sick.. I hadn't had much experience with wattle birds at the time and did the usual bird check (put your finger under its feet and see if it hangs on - if it does it's a good sign)... well, he didn't do much, and then as soon as I looked away from him he gripped my finger so i couldn't pull it away and then did a kinda chinese burn motion with his feet and ripped my finger up with his claws. After that we gave him a drink and then took him outside and he took off. 
Needless to say, any wattle birds I have had since that one have NOT received the finger perch test.


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## nuthn2do (Oct 9, 2007)

It's very common for baby birds that are learning to fly (fledglings), they get pooped real quick and stop where they drop. The parents would have fed it up and it's good to go again.
Or otherwise, yes, a cats eaten it.


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## thesilverbeast (Oct 9, 2007)

hmm well i hope it was playing dead. either way i would like to think i saved it seeing as i had to move in a very wide turning motion to get into my street. lucky i saw it. 

i hope if a cat got it i wouldve seen blood and/or 
feathers near where it was but nope, nothing. 

thanks for your help!


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