Update:
After posting this, with the questions OhLoook had, and neither of us having an answer, I thought to myself.... "Hey Dummy, I do know someone that would know all the answers about small birds and could answer these questions professionally!"
Her name is Pat (Patricia) Knight who s my cousin who lives in Plymouth, Indiana and runs "Song Birds of Northern Indiana". She started this business and runs it out of her home. The people in Plymouth all know and LOVE her. I sent her an email with all the dates and pictures I shared here. She has a FaceBook account if you want to look her up.
I asked her about the tree I have being so small and did she think the babies fledge OK or not.
This was her reply:
From the post dates on the photos I would think those babies fledged. Most bird moms try to have everyone hatch within a few hours of each other, and fledge the same day, but it doesn’t always happen like that.
The female lays an egg and leaves until she’s ready to lay the next egg. Sometimes egg laying happens every other day. When she believes all have been laid she settles down to incubate, then Oops, here comes another egg a day or two later which prevents all hatching at once. Sometimes it’s a first time mom that lays an egg and starts to incubate immediately because she’s so thrilled and the following eggs are laid with the first one partially incubated. That first one will hatch first with the others following so she has days of feeding fledglings who are out and about, and days of feeding nestlings at the same time.
The robin that chose that low spot had scouted the area for weeks and was pretty certain no cats, raccoons, etc., would reach her, or her babies. And, by nesting so low, hawks didn’t notice. When the fledglings first leave the nest they cannot fly, but she’s already picked hiding spots around the yard for them till they are able to be up in the branches with her.
I then asked her how long she has been running this business and what was her reasoning for starting this business:
In the last 48 hours I’ve had a Whip-Poor-Will with 2 broken legs, 1 tail feather, and plucked right wing, a poisoned Red Bellied Woodpecker, a Blue Jay that was torn up by a cat, and a window strike Sparrow, not to mention a Mourning Dove that is getting national vet attention from an eye infection. Sometimes it’s a 3 ring circus. I also have an aviary full that are almost ready to go free. Thing is this is not like a vet clinic where I see the animal and it goes home with someone. They stay and continue treatment which also includes managing fear, depression and pain, and if they won’t eat, and must be hand fed, encouraged and consoled. (I’m a bird therapist. LOL) Yippy.
Yes, anything I share with you may be shared with others. I started rehabbing animals in general with a State permit that allows only for non-migrating birds and mammals. I was in a regional meeting with other rehabbers when I realized there were plenty of mammal people, raptor (owl and hawk) people, waterfowl and shore bird people, but no one cared for the little backyard birds that people care so much about. People put out specialty feeders, baths and even landscape to draw these birds in, but no one rehabbed them because they were, and I quote, “Too labor intensive, too small to work on, and no matter what you do they all die anyway.” So, I took the challenge. Sure enough, there was no area vet that knew anything about little birds, they are so different from the others, no science online, very few reference books, and those were sketchy, and the first 3 years most died. BUT!!! I kept close notes on symptoms and which medicines I tried, which worked, and which failed. Didn’t have names for any of the maladies, but I could recognize the symptoms and started knowing which meds would work.
Because I had so few patients in the early years, I learned their language and how to recognize what they were thinking, or when they were about to try an escape. Believe it or not, we use some universal “animal” language in our everyday living. Ever get really sick and tired of something? What’s your body language? You get a look in your eye, cock you head, and raise your hand as if to say, “stop.” So do birds. They also understand a lot of our speech, as does your dog, or cat. Yeah, let that sink in, but they really do.
You may not want to post this as it sounds a bit “other worldly”. Most people don’t notice the body language I do constantly with the birds. The vet that cleaned out the dove’s eye did so with no anesthesia because I gently held the bird on the table. When she was finished she stepped back, looked at me with wonder and said to an assisting vet, “Whew, she’s got it.” (In fact, she had to step back from me because it was overwhelming her.) Got what? (I wondered, too, what she was talking about. All I did was stand there.) The vet made a motion with her hands like I had an indescribable aura around me. Made me a little uncomfortable because I don’t realize when I do it, but I was completely relaxed, which relaxed the bird for the funny feeling eye treatment it just endured.
How long have I done this? About 30 years.
I love curious minds.
If you click on FACEBOOK
then click on the first picture, this is my cousin. From here you can click on the right or left arrow to see man many photos of birds she has nursed back to health. As you click right or left... look at the right side as some pictures have explanations what you are looking at.
