Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Classic TA Workplace -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: At_The_Ask who wrote (44605)	7/5/2002 1:22:00 PM
From: ajtj99	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 209892

I agree. I read an article last year that said ferral cats accounted for 20% of the mortality of songbirds in our state. We sometimes find animals that are injured or sick in our yard. We don't have pets, so we let nature take its course. We let the strong survive. It does tick me off when a raccoon gets into the eggs of a nice bird, but the bird has to learn to keep the nest out of harms way too. Part of the problem is the burbs have encroached on the formerly wild areas. This creates a bit of confusion amongst the critters, and even more as they adapt and become desensitized to the dangers of urban and suburban life as well as the dangers of the wild.

To: At_The_Ask who wrote (44605)	7/5/2002 1:27:56 PM
From: GraceZ	Respond to of 209892

Baby birds frequently spend a few days on the ground right before they learn to fly. I've saved a few of these myself by putting them in a box in a tree where mom can still find them to feed but they don't end up as cat food. I'm not as ambitious as Lee to save the really tiny ones that need hand feeding, but I appreciate his detailing what it takes. Anyone who has ever bought a young parrot knows how to hand feed a bird because it is the best way to get them to imprint on you, to get them when they are very young and hand feed with an eyedropper. The reason for them spending a few days on the ground has a lot to do with the threats from above. Once we had a nest of robins in a tall tree in our back yard. We watched the mother feed them over many days. One day my husband was sitting outside and in flies a hawk and lands right near the nest. All the birds in the yard were making a racket trying to distract the hawk, it completely ignored them as it flew straight to the nest and picked up a baby bird and flew off. A few minutes later the same scene is repeated as it picks up baby bird number two. A few minutes after it flies off with baby number two, the remaining baby robin jumps out of the nest which was a good thirty feet off the ground. It barely fluttered on the way down, but the ground was soft and the baby survived. (I imagined it said to itself, "It ain't safe in here, I'm getting the F out of here.") The mother continued to feed it on the ground for the next few days until it could fly up to perch.

To: At_The_Ask who wrote (44605)	7/5/2002 1:34:18 PM
From: Lee Lichterman III	Respond to of 209892

As I wrote Allan in a PM, Most of the birds we raised were deformed and thrown out by the parents. "Most of the time" birds found on the ground are able to be cared for by the parents so you dont need to do anything. if they have feathers, they are probably going to be OK and Mom and Dad are just waiting for you to get out of the way so they can come back and feed it. -ggg- If they don't have feathers or are deformed, that is when it was accidental and they are at risk. Most of the ones we raised had deformed feet and were thrown out and abandoned. It was never meant to be a hobby but we took care of the first couple and and word spread around the neighborhood. Soon we were the hospice for every critter anyone found. No one knows we did that stuff where I live now and I won't be telling anyone when I get to Calif either. -ggg- It is a lot of work and most times, they are better off left alone. As I told Allan, ours with the foot problems learned to balance on a tree limb using their forelegs and seemed to do fine though I have no idea how they would make it through a windy day or a storm so who knows how they made out longer term. As long as they get a fighting chance and the kids learn something in the process. Just to set the record straight, I am no Dr Doolittle. I will blast a deer or cute bunny away in a heart beat on a hunting trip. -gggggggg- Good Luck, Lee