Inklings: Baby birds, revisited | Columnists | Summerville Journal Scene

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Inklings: Baby birds, revisited

Published Thursday, June 10, 2010 1:58 PM

By Barbara Lynch Hill
Summerville Journal Scene ®

My sister and I inadvertently transported baby birds through three states after buying what we thought were empty birdhouses. We tried unsuccessfully to find someone knowledgeable to take them and it wasn’t until we came into Summerville that we said in unison: “David!” My son. Her godson. A fellow with a heart the size of Alaska and experience in fostering tiny creatures.

“I’ll make him an offer he can’t refuse.” Cynthia grinned. David was intrigued, agreeing to make room for what turned out to be seven birds. By the time the babies – which he correctly identified as chickadees – were delivered, he was ready. By the next morning, despite his best efforts, four had perished. Practical as well as compassionate, David immediately sought professional help and took the survivors to an emergency veterinarian who turned them over to a licensed bird rehabilitator. He shared contact information with me so I could keep up with their progress.

I waited a few days for them to settle in and called for an update. “I want to tell you how well they did and that they ate their fill, got strong and flew away,” she began as my own heart soared from its nest. “But I can’t. None survived.”

My tears, my sister’s, and I suspect my son’s were to be their only epitaph, or so I thought. The bird rehabber consoled me by saying that tiny rescued birds, like our chickadees, have a low survival rate. It’s hard, even for professionals to determine if they are sick and if they are, they often don’t survive long. Mother Nature knows best, she said, adding that Mother Nature is always right.

The rehabber shared a lot of good information. She wanted to remain anonymous as she is a volunteer, keeps up to 50 birds at her specially fitted home, and would be inundated with calls otherwise. Rehabbers can be reached through referrals from emergency veterinary clinics and other sources, listed below.

She is a federally permitted bird rehabilitator with 10 years experience and possesses a lot of equipment, including cages and other hardware as well as specially formulated food. Her advice if you find baby birds in or out of the nest is to leave them alone, unless they are in imminent danger. Keep watch and you’ll find their mothers and/or their fathers will protect and feed them until they can fly. If you need to pick them up and return them to the nest, it won’t deter their parents from returning and caring for them.

For more information refer to: Birds of Prey-843-971-7474; Keepers of the Wild-843-636-1659; Wild Birds Unlimited-571-3771; and an emergency after-hours veterinary clinic at 744-3372.

The Department of Natural Resources in Charleston has a website with good information. Try www.sciway.net/org/sc-wildlife-rescue-rehabilitation.html. Click on Birds.

In our case, we didn’t know we had the birds until it was too late to return them. Yes, we did the best we could, and yes, we’re unhappy that it wasn’t successful.

My best consolation came from my granddaughter, Grace, David’s daughter, who hugged me and said, “Don’t be sad. We buried those baby birdies who died at our house in our flower garden. Now they’ll always be with us.” Out of the mouths of babes . . .

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