Skimming Stones | Sula's Blog | Sula1968 A South African poet, potter and mother
The images above show Poopsie at roughly 1 week old on the top left date 13/11/13, a week later 20/11/13 (top right) and bottom at roughly 3 weeks old on 27/11/13
Poopsie has now been part of our lives for 2 weeks. To read about his development from when we found him and his 1st week you can click on the highlighted links to those posts.
Day 9 – 21/11/13 Poopsie moved into the bird cage, he seems to like having a bit more space
Day 10 – 22/11/13 Poopsie can now perch, he stood on my finger for a while then moved to the perches in the cage. I took him to the flower bed which is ready for planting and he hopped around quite happily. During the day now when I am at home the cage is in the garden. I feel that it is important for him to spend as much time in his natural environment as possible, that way he is more likely to learn bird calls and hopefully less likely to imprint humans. Us humans seem pre-programmed to take ownership, I would love him to be completely tame and see me as ‘Mummy’ but that is not in his best interests. He is born to be a free bird and we cannot rob him of the essence of his ‘birdness’.
Day 11 – 23/11/13 An adult Olive (Karoo) Thrush is close to the cage almost all the time that Poopsie spends outdoors. I assume that this must be one of the parents or both of them alternating. If our garden was secure I would love to let him out of the cage and let them take over but a feral cat spends most days in our garden and to release Poopsie at this point would be a death sentence.
Day 12 – 24/11/13 I am wondering about the next stage with feeding Poopsie, at present he still eats ‘Hills Canine / Feline Critical Care’ tinned food mixed with water from a syringe but I have been reading up that he should be eating insects. My relative Bruce suggested making a net and catching insects then removing the wings before feeding them to Poopsie, online I read that I should lift flagstones to find insects for him. I was most relieved when a friend who worked as a volunteer with Freeme told me that when he is released instinct will kick in and he will know how to hunt insects without being “taught”. I am finding the syringe more difficult as he is so active that he moves his head while I am trying to feed which leads to food all over him.
Day 13 – 25/11/13 Poopsie weighs 68g
Day 14 – 26/11/13 Poopsie flaps his wings and can sort of fly about half a meter
Day 15 – 27/11/13 We bought meal worms for Poopsie at the pet shop, at first he completely ignored them. He then became interested in the ones which were moving, we put one worm at a time on the floor and after pecking at it a few times he manages to eat them. Still feeding most by syringe
Well done to you for taking this little bird under your wing! Every time I have tried saving a bird, it has not survived long – you seem to be doing well with this little critter!
My last experience was with a swallow and he didn’t last, I was heartbroken and wracked with guilt, this time I said a big prayer.