The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Smallholding => Wildlife => Topic started by: Fleecewife on August 03, 2016, 06:52:00 pm
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Olly turned up here in a major storm - thunder, lightning, torrential rain. He had clearly just left the nest and was soaked through with his feathers sticking up every which-way. He hung around, and still does and is quite endearing, being very gentle and not aggressive to other birds and baby birds sharing the bird feeders. He's not especially scared of us, and roosts in a honeysuckle by the gate. He has no mates though, and his parents never visit either.
So are young starlings trainable, say to eat out of your hand? If anyone has befriended a wild bird like that, how did you go about it? One set of my grandparents had various little birds which would hop in the window at breakfast time and eat crumbs off the table. Whilst I don't want Olly indoors, it would be lovely for him to be tame.
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I've had a pet magpie and a pet jackdaw, both eventually returned to a fully wild life.
In both cases I brought them in to keep them safe, and fed them, and they became very tame without any effort. The magpie flew off and established herself as a wild one fairly soon, but still came to visit. The jackdaw I didn't think would ever leave us, but eventually he did. He'd been on holiday with us, travelling in the car - we made him a perch, came with us cycling (him flying free), there was even a pub he used to go in with us! He'd come to a whistle.
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I love the idea of you taking the jackdaw cycling Sally 8). How wonderful. We have had birds which came to us injured - Crow and JL (Seagull). Crow went back to the wild once he was recovered, although he would visit every now and again. JL we took to Camperdown Park near Dundee as he had a broken wing which had set badly, so could never have managed on his own. I hope they didn't just wring his neck as soon as we'd driven away :o. He loved to paddle about in the bath.
Olly isn't injured though, so I would have to attract a free bird. He is just starting to get his adult plumage, so he's growing fast.
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Mealworms are universally liked. I think I'd try sitting in a chair or on the doorstep when he's about, and throw a few around for him and over time throw them a shorter distance and then off a palm. Could add in a whistle or something so you'd be able to call him from a bit further
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Starlings aren't as capable as most corvids but will be trainable easily i reckon.
I've got a pet Raven at the moment
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Mealworms are universally liked. I think I'd try sitting in a chair or on the doorstep when he's about, and throw a few around for him and over time throw them a shorter distance and then off a palm. Could add in a whistle or something so you'd be able to call him from a bit further
I'd wondered about meal worms. My aunt used to do research with tits - blue and great. She was demonstrating how the eggs co-ordinated hatching. That meant there were lots of babies to feed, so as kids back in the '50s my brother and I got to feed them mealworms using tweezers - great fun.
Do you know what meal worms turn into? Where do you get live ones?
I think I'll try your method nutterly-uts - if we get some sunshine to make it bearable sitting outside. Great idea to add in a whistle - starlings are good at imitating sounds, aren't they. In fact I could start off with the whistle before the worms.
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Starlings aren't as capable as most corvids but will be trainable easily i reckon.
I've got a pet Raven at the moment
Oh please please can we have a pic? I know lots of people don't like ravens, but I love them - so intelligent.
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Do you know what meal worms turn into? Where do you get live ones?
I have been breeding them for chicken treats recently (info on another thread) but you can buy them live from ebay.
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Starlings aren't as capable as most corvids but will be trainable easily i reckon.
I've got a pet Raven at the moment
Oh please please can we have a pic? I know lots of people don't like ravens, but I love them - so intelligent.
Him at 3 weeks old:
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/GreenBeast999/General/Animals/20160409_150157_zpslthfxuxs.jpg)
He's met all the cats, through mesh or cage bars at least....
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/GreenBeast999/General/Animals/20160605_182528-1_zpsjnp5f8qp.jpg)
He's mischievious
(http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b316/GreenBeast999/General/Animals/20160719_203127_zpsplursjyo.jpg)
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He's wonderful. I think he's being loving when he nibbles your ear, though those claws look a bit dodgy on bare skin.
Did you find him injured? What do you feed him?
Cats just love to do that - taunt other creatures when they're behind bars. We had a tomcat called Polkinghorn who would travel several streets away to where he knew there was a dog shut behind a garden gate all day. He would pose and preep and rub himself on the gate, knowing the dog couldn't quite get him. Poor dog would go berserk, which was of course the cats aim :innocent:
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Cats just love to do that - taunt other creatures when they're behind bars. We had a tomcat called Polkinghorn who would travel several streets away to where he knew there was a dog shut behind a garden gate all day. He would pose and preep and rub himself on the gate, knowing the dog couldn't quite get him. Poor dog would go berserk, which was of course the cats aim :innocent:
They do indeed. Grey squirrels used to taunt my cat, who'd lie in wait behind the cat hole (I fitted flaps, the dog removed the flaps, so we just had a cat hole); the squirrels would taunt him from the garden until he made his move - he never caught one. Then they'd chatter at him from the trees, hurling walnuts at him.
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He's wonderful. I think he's being loving when he nibbles your ear, though those claws look a bit dodgy on bare skin.
Did you find him injured? What do you feed him?
Cats just love to do that - taunt other creatures when they're behind bars. We had a tomcat called Polkinghorn who would travel several streets away to where he knew there was a dog shut behind a garden gate all day. He would pose and preep and rub himself on the gate, knowing the dog couldn't quite get him. Poor dog would go berserk, which was of course the cats aim :innocent:
He does like to snuggle up and hold on to my collar or the logo on my t-shirt when he's in an affectionate mood.
The claws aren't so bad now he's older. When he was young and unsure of his balance he scratched me up good and proper! He does grip me but doesn't scramble for purchase anymore.
He's captive bred, i bought him, his name is Dale :)
That's Felix (not our name!), he's our diabetic, dead-behind-the-eyes cat, in this shot he really is just being passive. He wouldn't know how to taunt anything. ha ha
A couple of the cats have had a close call with the beak, luckily they were faster than him
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We had a starling (Darling) saved as a naked fledgling and I thought we would have him forever, but one day a flock of starlings flew over and off he went, never to be seen again!
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Well, Ollie's still here, nearly fully changed to his adult plumage, just his head's still brown. A few other starlings come into the garden but for some reason they go for him, shove him off the feeder and so on. He doesn't fight back. Maybe being squabblesome is a starling trait, and Ollie is the odd one out. When flocks of starlings fly past, he makes no attempt to follow them.
I've made no progress taming him, and he flies off if we go too close, but it looks as if he's here for the winter. Maybe springtime urges will take him away then. Or maybe we'll have a resident family....
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I've rescued lots of little birds over the years, but starlings are the most endearing. 2 I rescued were only a few days old. I didn't think they would survive but keeping them warm and feeding them every 2 hours etc. I kept them in my bedroom and let them fly around when they were learning. They used to fly onto my head and peck my head. One was more friendly than the other. I called them Soapy & Bubbles. I eventually put them outside into a little avery.
The day came to set them free and they flew off into the trees. For about 3 weeks Bubbles (the friendly one) would fly down onto my head every time I went outside. I'd put soaked meal worms out for him. I watched him fly with a group he had joined. Then he disappeared. The following late spring I heard a tapping on the window. I looked out and it was Bubbles! I went outside and took pics of him - he looked beautiful with his beautiful oily coloured feathers. He didn't stay long, but I believe he came back to let me know he was fine.
I will go and see if I can find some pics.
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What a lovely story Eeyore. My Ollie eventually flew off - we'll see if he comes back in the spring. Looking forward to the pics.
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What a lovely story, Eeyore. I will share with my daughter when she gets home from school. She loves birds and that will bring a smile to her face. ;D
Hope that you can find the photos. :fc:
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I hope these pictures work.....
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This one is a week or so later.
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This one when they were learning to fly.
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This one is when Bubbles returned the following year.
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Most babies are so cute, but that first shot is just such an ugly duckling :roflanim: Poor mum, imagine having a whole nestful of those squabbling to be fed :o . But then isn't Bubbles so beautiful when he comes back. I love the colours of adult starlings. Well done you for raising them to adulthood Eeyore :thumbsup:
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Awwww, brilliant! Well done you.
We've loved looking at your photos. My daughter thought that it was such a happy story.
What did you feed them on? Did they have heat?
I'd have thought that the success rate with very young birds was reasonably low.
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Thanks Fleecewife & in the hills.
I found one baby once that had fallen quite a height out of the nest. It was completely bald - and it's eyes weren't open, so probably only a couple of days old. When I picked it up it was soo cold and no movement, I thought it was gone but something told me it was alive. I took it in, put it in a little cardboard box. I have a round heat pad that you put in the microwave for around 5 minutes and it keeps warm for about 6 hours. So I put the little bird on this and snuggled it in fleece to get it warm. After around 2 hours in this it showed better signs of life. You should never syringe water into their mouths, but from experience I knew this little soul needed hydrating, so I got a little paint brush with a drip of water on and I sat the drip along the outside of it's gape. After doing this I asked it to open it's beak and it did and when it did the little drip of water went into it's mouth and it naturally swallowed it.
After this I'd chop some dried meal worms and soak them in warm water I'd use a long pair of tweezers to feed the little baby (I always make sure to dab away any excess water before giving to the baby). At first it was a struggle to get it to take them but eventually he got the idea - it sometimes takes alot of patience. I was determined not to let it die. In the first week I fed every hour - night time too. :P Then every 2-3 hours the older he got. And once he started to feed for himself I didn't feed at night as they are strong enough. I also fed scrambled egg (obviously only egg, nothing added). I'd chop it into little pieces to feed him.
I taught myself to do this as I love animals soo much. The internet helps alot too. Where I live now, it's frogs and toads I seem to be rescuing and learning about. :D
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Just loved reading your rescue stories, Eeyore.
Keep up the good work. Such dedication to the little souls.
Thank you for the photos. My daughter loved them!