Aussie Finch Forum

Well done Jay, great work! For future reference, if you are worried about the light bothering birds, if you get a red globe, apparently birds don't see red?? So we were told when a ranger took us to see the migration of some bird in Tasmania (they come in at sunset to nest, and with a red light you don't startle/disturb them).

Well done!! Its a good feeling isnt it! I work for Rio Tinto as an Enviro Advisor and I am the Fauna specialist so all injured fauna come to me. I have had birds brought in to me nearly everyday for the last month so I have it down to an art form now!!

Good on you Jay. Lots of good advice from several sources.
LML

Im lucky here to have the zoo just up the road , they will take injured wildlife and fix them if they can . We have WIRES too but it isn't always as quick at getting back to you as driving to the zoo .
Last trip to the zoo was 6 galahs( mob of them flew into traffic , 60 zone ) in one hit 2 made it and I had bruised and bloody fingers for a week .
Worst part was finally getting to work late and a work mate asked what I was doing running around in the traffic ? My answer ...why didn't you stop to find out .
I swear once again the more I hang around people the more I love my critters.
Anyhoo good one Jay it feels good to be able to help them out hey and oh have you spoken to the cat owners yet ....?

good to hear jay

thanks all... Kimberley, sounds interesting! must be quite a job...
yeah gonna talk to them as soon as I take a pic of the cat as evidence that it's in our yard.
should also have taken a pic of the painted remains, but didn't...

Good on you for saving the bird. One thing I really detest about cats, my own included. I had to bury a common waxbill recently because of my Ginger cat who is too good at stalking visiting birds.

For future reference, re feeding. You did not say how old it was, but since you mentioned it flew away perhaps it was old enough to feed itself. In this case you could offer the same as to follow and just reduce the amount of water to make it easier to grab.
For young birds still needing feeding, you can use mashed/blended soft puppy tin food (type without gravy) with a bit of water to make it softer / pulpy if necessary and add fruit like Papya for omnivorous birds like starlings. I have raised white eye fledgling this way with success and my mom-in-law has raised plently starlings this way and moles. If you need it long term (say for very young birds) you can add bought soft food specifically for those type of birds and eventually work in some live food until they are weaned off the soft food. Works surprisingly well and in a time of crisis usually easily available.

edited to add: the smell is terrible, the poops are huge and stinky, but the birds sure do beg easily for it and gulp it down. Very young birds I have made the mixture smooth enough to fit in a syringe and well you never really want to use your blender for anything thereafter either.

thanks monotwine
yes it was fully adult, and old enough to feed itself. strong flyer so not recently fledged.
thenks for the rec. that's going to be useful!!!
wow you're so lucky, saint Helenas i your back garden!!


(by the way, love your finch collection !!)

No problem. My vet shared the receipe with me and as it works well I am compelled to let others know of an easy resource to help birds.

Thanks for the compliment. Its taken me years to get the collection going and mostly funded by breeding Zebras and Parrot finches so the Aussies have helped me out!
I have St. Helenas by the dozen, but how I envy the Owl's you guys have visiting your back yards. Here we barely ever see them for sale even.

no double bars on this finch breeders property. too many cats
actually I did see 4 cordons and a ongtail on the power lines the other day anyone lost some birds?
seems like you've got quite a few double bars good collecting