Thanks for the great graphic!

Isn't it amazing (& frustating) how these false beliefs persist despite continuing efforts to educate folks?

I used to hand-raise cockatiels, so if I had to, I could hand-feed a baby bird. The problem is that they have to be fed so often for awhile. I still have my syringes and know what kind of food to buy, but sleep deprivation isn't my thing.

We're getting a lot of rain my way, and yesterday I opened the front door to see if it had let up. Saw a mockingbird pulling something from the driveway but it let go when it saw me at the door. Unhappily I found it had been pulling an already dead baby which looked to be a fledgling.

I remember when we had a sparrow nest in the bushes on the other side of a privacy fence, and I stood on a ladder to see the babies. That night I awoke to bad thunder storms and immediately worried about the babies, but there was not much I could do amidst the storm so I told myself to go back to sleep because the nest was doubtless built to withstand the wind. Next morning I went out to find the nest on the ground, as well as the babies and their parents carrying on. I put the nest back in the bush as best I could and deposited the babies in it. A short time later I peeked over the fence and much to my surprise saw the mother urging the babies out of the nest and onto the branches. I backed off and later in the day found that the kids had somehow been relocated into three different bushes in my yard with their folks bringing them food all day.

pattybee, I once had cardinals build a nest in my coral honeysuckle, heaven knows why. I guess it felt like a protected place. We had a bad thunderstorm and the newly hatched babies all drowned. They never made that mistake again.

Over a month ago we first saw this gorgeous Great White Egret gracefully
flying into our backyard, with it's usual impeccable, smooth landing, ( his wingspan must be over 5 foot ), every day ! We immediately noticed
he ( wifey says it's a guy ) has a broken left leg ! Since he has
chosen us to be pals with ( never see him in another yard ), I have now
adopted him as my latest " best friend " and named him " Ernie " ! He
only walks when he has to,..mostly hanging around our large Glenn mango
tree ! Naturally our hearts went out to him, but there was nothing we
could do to ease his obvious pain and discomfort !

I did call the Wildlife Preservation people in Venice and the lady there
told me " Whatever you do, do not feed him ! There's nothing we can do
now, because as soon as we'd get close, he'd fly way. It's obvious that
he can still fly and catch fish, so only call us back if you see him
lying in the grass and unable to fly,..then we'll be right over and take
him ! " So Ernie is seriously injured, but still able to do his thing.
But as he landed just this morning, we both noticed he is limping worse
than ever,.. mostly standing still, only briefly hobbling around within
his chosen area of comfort !

Just thought I'd share our latest wildlife adventure. Can't help admiring
Ernie's courage, - we are of course hoping he can hang on indefinitely
despite today's worsening limp ! A very gutsy and handsome guy !!!

Click on ea pic for a larger view !

Awww....bless his heart. In North Port, I used to have an egret that would come and stand on my front porch until I came out, then he would follow me around the yard. Once a baby stork got separated from its mother, and followed me around, and tried to come into the house. I really miss my shore birds. Not many here. Occasionally, some migrating birds will drop in for a visit, but the most we usually get is a lesser blue heron and some ibises.

At my bank i spyed a short egret/cowbird on top of a car roof and the egret only had one leg. I called the local wildlife rehab person. I said i am at my bank and there is a one legged egret sitting on a car roof...the rehab person named my bank and laughed and said they had tried to catch the bird a few months ago to examine the leg but it evaded the process and seems to being doing well and he seemed to like to sit on cars cause they would get a few calls about him a week.

Pea, since egrets like standing on one leg, it probably wasn't much of a hindrance to him just standing. I imagine landing would be difficult, though.

Bea, thank you for sharing your bird experience with us. If I ever need help with saving some bird, I know who to contact now.

I admire people that save animals, they are high in my list!

Silvia