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Friday, May 15, 2009
The Ethics Of Rescuing Baby Birds
I had just sat down at my desk to work when motion outside my big window caught my attention. A magpie was attacking something in the middle of the driveway. Two smaller birds were frantically dive-bombing the magpie. I rushed out the door and down the hill. The birds scattered. The target of the attack was a baby starling -- a nestling, too small to be out of the nest. I squatted and looked at it. It looked up at me and wobbled backwards. Blood trickled from its wounds.
"Who trusted God was love indeed
And love Creation's final law
Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw
With ravine, shriek'd against his creed.~ Tennyson
I looked around. The nearest nests I knew of were up the hill, a good 50 feet away at least, in an old chicken coop that I call the "starling condo." I wondered if the magpie had dropped it here. I looked at the infant and sighed. I said out loud: "I know I should let you die."
I scooped up the baby bird and carried it up the hill to my cabin. A chilly breeze was blowing and the bird's tiny body was cold and shivering in my hand. I found a small cardboard box in the mudroom, lined it with some shredded office paper, and nestled the baby into it on my kitchen counter. I heated up a flax seed pillow in the microwave, put it in a Ziploc bag and tucked it under the shredded paper. Then I went to my computer and twittered: "just rescued a baby starling that was being attacked by a magpie. Now what?!?"
Responses started coming on Twitter and Facebook: Feed it to your cat. Train it to fight magpies like Rocky. Feed it worms. Take it to a bird rescue. Dunk it in flour and fry it in a hot skillet.
In between feedings, shooings and Facebook updates, I read the advice pages more carefully. I learned that if this thing lived, I would have my work cut out for me. Nestlings require feedings every 45 minutes or so for several weeks. Worse, it would imprint on me and might not adapt back to life in the wild. Some people keep starlings as pets, and I was tempted for about two minutes. Then I remembered my cats, and my tiny cabin. No. That wasn't going to happen.
Also, there was the niggling awareness that starlings are not exactly an endangered species. On the contrary, they flock by the thousands and rob the nests of other birds.
I couldn't justify spending weeks of time saving this creature, no matter how cute and helpless it might be. I thought about trying to shove it into one of the holes in the starling condo and hope that whatever parents were nesting in there would adopt it. Suddenly, I remembered seeing a starling fly out of a hole in a fencepost a few years ago, very close to where I found the baby. I went down and checked it out. Sure enough, I could hear baby birds in there. I went back and scooped up my little nestling, carried it down the hill, and pushed it through the hole. It dropped several inches into the inner recesses of the fencepost, and I heard lots of chirping.
It's a myth that adult birds will abandon a nest if their babies are handled by humans. The best thing you can do if you find a baby bird is put it back in the nest. I went back to the cabin and watched through my window. Sure enough, I soon saw the parents flying in and out of the fencepost.
What it comes down to, for me, is that you can't blame cats or starlings or soft-hearted female humans for doing what comes naturally.
posted by Patia 9:35 PM
Comments:
best of luck with your new bird! what an interesting post!
posted by
posted by 
Frank Wetzel : May 15, 2009 11:41 PM
Good for you, Patia, and you luckily found an excellent solution. I would have done the same thing: how could anyone not have compassion for such an innocent little creature?
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posted by 
montucky : May 16, 2009 8:21 AM
It's hard to deny you saw a creature suffering... I think you did the best thing for that bird, regardless of its species.
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posted by April : May 16, 2009 9:16 AM
Compassion is never wrong. That's the bottom line.
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posted by Maureen and Eric : May 17, 2009 6:01 PM
What Maureen and Eric said. For the one starling you saved, probably 10 more were being killed somewhere in Missoula. If ethics over saving the life of a creature that will cause huge swaths of destruction throughout its life are a concern, you'd be worse off saving a friggin' HUMAN baby, for crissakes (an American one, of course). Plus I'd rather sit next to a starling on a plane than a stinkin' baby any day.
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posted by Chris : May 17, 2009 10:06 PM
I was walking to work this morning & could hear the most distressing screaching sound, I just knew the magpies were up to no good! I chased them off & found a poor wee starling barely alive on the ground. I scooped him up & took him home where I had to leave him in a cage in a dark corner whilst I went to work. He apeared to have stopped breathing but I am hoping to get home to find him recoverred. I fear he may have died of shock though, better than being eaten alive I suppose. He looks like a fledge-ling, I'm hoping for the best. Reading this blog has really helped me, I was feeling all the emotions mentioned above, but you just can't help your maternal instincts!
Cheryl (UK)
posted by
Cheryl (UK)
posted by Cheryl : May 21, 2009 5:58 AM
Hi Cheryl. It probably won't make it that long without food and water. Good luck.
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