![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
genlisaeI am still a little annoyed with myself for loosing those pics, so I am taking a few minutes to talk about something that is not at all sims related.
A few weeks ago I mentioned we had acquired a bird. Specifically a baby Starling. I am well aware how a lot of people view Starlings and that they are considered pests, I am also well aware (I have done the research, read the studies I know what I am talking about here) that a large portion of the reputation Starlings have is based on misinformation and false identification. I am not saying they are perfect birds without flaws and that they don't have their moments of being complete pains in the ass. I am just saying so do people, and cats and dogs, and fish of all kinds so if you happen to be someone who "hates Starlings" you are welcome to your opinion, voice it here in the comments and it will be deleted.
Besides, could you really be presented with something that looks like this ...
Image courtesy of Starling Talk. You can view more images of developing Starlings here.
... when it is injured and cold and scared and NOT help it?
I didn't get any pictures of Derp (Yes, Mathew named the poor bird Derp) at the same age due to being far more concerned with getting him/her (we are just going to go with him for now) through the injuries cause by falling from the nest and then being accidentally stepped on. That was two weeks ago.
This was 4 days ago being cuddled by the Rat-Brat. Please forgive the food face, eating is messy work and he wasn't big enough to have a bath yet. We generally managed to get most of the extra off his face.
And this was this morning being joined, for a bath he is now big enough for, by Chicklet (and also why washing dishes has gotten REALLY interesting around here. Hard to wash the plate when there are birds bathing in it! Don't worry, we have had years of practice at keeping them away from the soap, we also use completely bird friendly detergent .. just in case.) That is Chicklet on the left and Derp on the right.
Derp, obviously, is not our first Starling. We have two more who are going on 5 years old now. Normally, I would be the first to advocate returning baby birds to their nest (Yes, you really can. The parent birds will not "smell" humans and attack or toss the baby out again. They can not smell any better than you can) and then watching for a few hours to see if it was a fall or if the parents kicked it out due to some illness or malformation which would otherwise make it unlikely to survive in the wild. In the case of all three birds now, returning them to their parents has not been an option. :( Chicklet's nest had been invaded by predators. Kirby (do not have pictures of Kirby) has a respiratory condition very similar to asthma and was ejected from the nest. He still can not fly more than a few feet without getting winded. As for Derp .. well, there is a reason Mathew named it what he did. I am uncertain if the damage was caused by the fall or was a pre-existing condition but it has become very obvious over the past two weeks this bird is just not right. It is hard to explain. He can fly well enough and hop as per usual but simple things like turning around to be fed will result in frantic running back and forth trying to work out how to get turned in the correct direction.
So, that is our newest baby. I am kind of looking forward to the day he learns to talk (yes, Starlings do talk, actual human words look it up on youtube and be amazed) since I am already certain Mathew will loose all arguments with this one as well. He has had 5 years of practice loosing to Chicklet and Kirby.
A few weeks ago I mentioned we had acquired a bird. Specifically a baby Starling. I am well aware how a lot of people view Starlings and that they are considered pests, I am also well aware (I have done the research, read the studies I know what I am talking about here) that a large portion of the reputation Starlings have is based on misinformation and false identification. I am not saying they are perfect birds without flaws and that they don't have their moments of being complete pains in the ass. I am just saying so do people, and cats and dogs, and fish of all kinds so if you happen to be someone who "hates Starlings" you are welcome to your opinion, voice it here in the comments and it will be deleted.
Besides, could you really be presented with something that looks like this ...
Image courtesy of Starling Talk. You can view more images of developing Starlings here.
... when it is injured and cold and scared and NOT help it?
I didn't get any pictures of Derp (Yes, Mathew named the poor bird Derp) at the same age due to being far more concerned with getting him/her (we are just going to go with him for now) through the injuries cause by falling from the nest and then being accidentally stepped on. That was two weeks ago.
This was 4 days ago being cuddled by the Rat-Brat. Please forgive the food face, eating is messy work and he wasn't big enough to have a bath yet. We generally managed to get most of the extra off his face.
And this was this morning being joined, for a bath he is now big enough for, by Chicklet (and also why washing dishes has gotten REALLY interesting around here. Hard to wash the plate when there are birds bathing in it! Don't worry, we have had years of practice at keeping them away from the soap, we also use completely bird friendly detergent .. just in case.) That is Chicklet on the left and Derp on the right.
Derp, obviously, is not our first Starling. We have two more who are going on 5 years old now. Normally, I would be the first to advocate returning baby birds to their nest (Yes, you really can. The parent birds will not "smell" humans and attack or toss the baby out again. They can not smell any better than you can) and then watching for a few hours to see if it was a fall or if the parents kicked it out due to some illness or malformation which would otherwise make it unlikely to survive in the wild. In the case of all three birds now, returning them to their parents has not been an option. :( Chicklet's nest had been invaded by predators. Kirby (do not have pictures of Kirby) has a respiratory condition very similar to asthma and was ejected from the nest. He still can not fly more than a few feet without getting winded. As for Derp .. well, there is a reason Mathew named it what he did. I am uncertain if the damage was caused by the fall or was a pre-existing condition but it has become very obvious over the past two weeks this bird is just not right. It is hard to explain. He can fly well enough and hop as per usual but simple things like turning around to be fed will result in frantic running back and forth trying to work out how to get turned in the correct direction.
So, that is our newest baby. I am kind of looking forward to the day he learns to talk (yes, Starlings do talk, actual human words look it up on youtube and be amazed) since I am already certain Mathew will loose all arguments with this one as well. He has had 5 years of practice loosing to Chicklet and Kirby.
