The Other Baby...

So as much as I might joke with Steve about getting Amelia, the truth is that I'm probably too big a softy when it comes to animals. We had a big storm a couple of weeks ago. As a result we were seeing dead baby birds everywhere. Then, when I went out to clear the yard to mow the lawn on May 21st, I saw these two little naked birds just barely move. Of course, 5 minutes later they were inside on a heating pad. This is what they looked like when I first found them.

We think based on the egg we found near them that they are Brewer's Blackbirds. Also, the bush they were near (as well as all the other trees in the yard) are constantly full of blackbirds yelling at us for being in their yard. The runt of the two just had taken the cold too rough and didn't last more than about a day, but the other little bird is still with us.

Did you know that there are a lot of similarities between baby birds and human babies? For instance, at this stage they eat so fast that they can't breath and end up spitting a lot up on themselves. They also fall asleep while eating and only wake up or interact with you when they want food or something.

This was our next stage of bird development. More crying, and a baby bird that doesn't know when it's full until you stop feeding it and then it passes out. Yes, that is one full crop of food...

And, when she learned how to move around (out of the nest box) she became a lot more work! She learned how to do this over Memorial Day weekend when we were camping with my parents. Yes, we are so cool we took a little blackbird camping with us....
We're now to the stage of development where baby bird wants to explore and run around constantly, but can't or it would make a total mess. Also, it never shuts up... And slowly trying to teach it to feed itself means a much bigger mess than when we were feeding it. But, at least independence is there, which is a good sign for releasing her.
Yesterday I took her outside to get used to the yard a little and listen to the other birds. She then proceeded to fly up into a tree and I had to wait for her to come back down. If she could feed herself at all I would just have let her go, but she still refuses to even try to find food even in her cage. Hopefully only about another week and she'll be a free little blackbird cussing at us with all her friends in the yard!
So after posting this today, our little blackbird died. I don't know why, which is really sad and frustrating, but I remind myself that she was better off living with us for a couple of weeks well fed and warm than if I had never brought her inside. Still a fun experience, just wish she could've gone wild in the end.