Tweety bird (after about 2 1/2 weeks of being cared for by us):
(Note: You can click on any photo to see the full size version)
So here's the story and more pictures...
My mom noticed three baby birds had fallen out of their nest in my front yard. Mom left them alone. Two were dead from the predator, but one was alive. She was worried about moving the baby. She thought the parents would reject him if she touched him. We left him out for part of the day, and the parents never came to his aid.
These pictures show Tweety at about day 4. His feathers are coming in, and he is starting to stand slightly to tell us he is hungry.
She took me out to see him, and well, you know me. I could not let nature take its course! I couldn't let this poor baby die. We took him in the house, and quickly turned to Google for information on the how, what, when and where fact about taking care of a wild baby bird.
Mom set off to the kitchen to prepare food for him per an online recipe, and I made him a "nest". He wasn't afraid of us at all, and he quickly took to eating the prepared food we made him.
Honestly, neither of us really thought he would make it through his first night. He did great! The next morning he woke us up bright and early asking for his "breakfast". We had a hair appointment that day, so we packed up the family, the dogs, and Tweety (as mom named him), and off we went. He ate every 15 to 20 minutes. We could have set our watch by him.
A better shot of his feathers and lack thereof
For 7 full days and nights we cared for this baby bird, then one Sunday morning, my mom notices a nest of birds about Tweety's age in the same tree Tweety was found under. We weren't sure they were his family, but it was worth a try. We put Tweety in their nest. Even though they weren't his parents they adopted him and cared for him. We checked on Tweety and the other two babies daily to monitor their progress. 7 days later, we got to watch as Tweety and his foster brothers & sisters flew away for the first time.
These two photos are Tweety's foster brother and sister being shy. Their coloring was totally different than his, but the mommy and daddy bird accepted him anyway.
It was great to see him fly and be a "real" bird. We had worried we domesticated him by feeding him as a baby. We worried that he wouldn't get all he needed from a family that wasn't his, but he did. He survived and had all of his natural instincts in tact.
Tweety chillin' in his nest.
Here is a compilation video I made of Tweety from his first day with us up to his 4th or 5th day. At that point I switched to taking pictures.
I hope you like seeing it.
He was so small and featherless when we found him. He had a little peach fuzz and that was about it. You can really see him change throughout the three videos. I wish I could have gotten some good shots of him flying away for the first time.
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