On May 21st we adopted 3 baby birds. One of them was a baby robin that only needed a safe place overnight and then I reunited it with its nest mates. I didn’t even get a picture of this robin. The other two are cardinals.
So cute and fuzzy!
Unfortunately, one of those baby birds refused to eat. You can probably guess which one, even from that picture there. We did everything we could really, but that doesn’t make it less sad.
Bird Watching
Even Morgan liked hanging out with the bird, affectionately known as ‘PEEPACHEEP!’, Peep for short. I’m pretty sure Morgan doesn’t realize this visitor is a bird. All she knows is Peep peeps a lot, and loudly. However, nowhere near as loudly as the conure parrot The Boy has back at his parents’ house.
By May 26 you could really see a change in Peep. At that point we still referred to it as him simply to avoid confusion with Morgan being a she. Peep started getting some real feathers and loosing some baby fluffy feathers.
Strutting for the Camera
I woke up early one morning about a week ago. Peep was awake but not yet peeping for food, but I opened her cage anyway and she jumped over to the bed and nestled in with me. There I am, cat curled up on one side and baby bird nestled into my neck on the other. Peep had enough after a few minutes and jumped back over to the window, but missed. She managed to mangle her one wing and break it. It was limp and she dragged it. I felt and still feel like the worst bird mama in the world.
We’ve babied her, more than we probably would have. We’ve definitely kept her longer. If she hadn’t broken a wing we would have been able to let her go already. She’s been eating baby food (beef in broth and chicken in gravy – yes I get the irony) and more recently meal worms. It’s so cool to watch her hunt them!
She hung out with me all this evening and even started jump/flying around a bit. Small leaps from one level to another. Then when The Boy came home she was all dancey for him. She lurves to tap dance on the mini cookie sheet we have for the toaster oven. So he put water in it, just enough to cover the bottom. She went nuts! It was great! After her bath she jumped up on top of the toaster oven and start preening, spreading all her feathers. For modesty’s sake I didn’t take a picture of that. I’ll just say she is definitely a she!
Bath Time
I’m just looking at the differences in Peep now. Her beak has changed, not only colors, but in strength. She also lurves to nibble on everything, ears, earrings, noses, lips, you get it. She’s tested every cables on both of our desks and reports back that none of them are in fact worms. Something I’m happy about but she’s probably pretty disappointed.
Another thing; worms are WAY more expensive than baby food!
Psst! More pics on Flickr.
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