Wednesday, April 24, 2013

The babies today

I had a stressful Saturday with the birds. I hadn't seen the mother in more than a day. I thought they had to eat every 15 minutes. As the day wore on I was getting really worried. Every time I looked they had their little beaks wide open. I thought surely they were starving. I tried to call everyone I knew who knew about birds and no one was home.

I looked all over the internet trying to get information. I called a wild bird rescue place in Oceanside. He told me to look at their crops (which is under their beak on their chest) and see if it was full. It didn't look like it was. He said maybe I could get a neighborhood kid to take care of them. You call that advice???? I called a wild bird and animal rescue place in Carlsbad hoping I could get someone who knew how to feed them. It was only a recording but gave the address to take them to.

After waiting a little longer hoping the mother would come back, I lifted up the basket (they're in a plant in a basket) put them in the car and started off for Carlsbad.


 I was very low on gas, the babies looked frantic and there was loads of traffic. When I got to the address there was lots of construction and very hard to see where the place was.  I drove around and around through lots of industrial sites and office buildings and finally found it. It was at the new animal shelter.

The young guy working there said they looked just fine and had been well taken care of. He said the mother must have been sneaking in when I wasn't looking.  I had seen two birds nearby that I thought might be the father. One with a red head and one with yellow. Two fathers? She's a bigamist? I was told the fathers also feed the babies. And sometimes even the friends of the family. So he told me to take them back home.

So after this 3 hour round trip I was back home and sure that the mother must be frantic...and the two fathers, also.

It's been 4 days now and they are doing just fine. They're being fed but I never see who's doing it. Sometimes I see a red head or a yellow head leaving the nest and even sometimes a brown blur that's probably the mother. I used to see the mother in the nest with them. Now I never do.

I got a lot of helpful information from my bird-expert friend, Margaret. I felt much better after that. I'm still not sure what they are but she thinks they're wrens.  I have two more "birdy" friends to check in with - Nancy and Beth. More to come, if anyone is still interested.



2 comments:

Ann at Deep Magic Tangles said...

HAHAHAHAHAAA! That's the best story ever. You get a giant V for Vigilant. Keep your eye on Bigamist Mama. Thanks for the great pics, wonderful update...and good laugh! ♥

Helen Killeen Bauch McHargue said...

I can feel the stress of trying to get over to Carlsbad with the babies.
But whoopee, the story has a happy ending! I had no idea that random birds might feed babies. I guess it takes a village in birdland too.

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