Serious Bird Question (Please Read Carefully)?

Question

A friend of my wife found a very, very young baby bird on the ground this weekend. It appears to be a baby starling. She is attempting to care for the bird by feeding it wax worms, keeping it in a box which sits on a heating pad (on lowest heat setting), and giving it water with a syrenge. My question is this. . .is there any legitimate chance that this bird will live being cared for by people? Thanks. . .

Answer 1

Some people can not really tell what an animal really wants or needs . It is better for the birds health to give it to an animal shelter!! It is whats best for the baby bird.

Answer 2

Good job on the rescue!!! I am a starling owner.  I have raised starlings with the help of starlingtalk website.  Please do not feed wax worms, they have no nutritional value. Never give a bird liquid directly into the mouth.  DO not give water in a syringe you could cause aspiration pneumonia and it will die.  The bird needs to be fed a dog food based diet to the consistency of oatmeal and fed using the end of a stir stick or straw cut to a spoon. Do Not use a syringe. Please read my profile and you will find all the info you need to care for a starling.   Follow the links to starling talk.  Good Luck!!!

I will check back shortly to see how things are going....

Starlings are not a protected species and most rehabbers will refuse to take them and even then some take them and put them down.  European Starlings, House Sparrows and Pigeons are non-native species and are therefore legal to own as pets.

Does the baby have feathers? Eyes open/ closed?

Answer 3

DO NOT GIVE IT WATER WITH A SYRINGE!!!

Baby birds do not "drink" or need to "drink" water.  They get all of their fluids from the food.  You could accidentally aspirate the bird and kill it, especially since most wild baby birds do not have "crops" but instead the openings are directly into the esophagus or trachea.

That being said.. wax worms alone are not a significantly enriched diet and the bird runs the risk of being extremely malnourished.

Not only is it illegal to keep any wild bird under the migratory bird act, it's also vividly apparent you are inexperienced at trying to rehabilitate orphaned birds by the fact you're trying to syringe feed it water!

You need to surrender the bird to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator.  This is the only way (legailty included) to ensure the bird will survive and receive adequate nutrition and care in order for it to take care of itself once it's fledged.

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Edit: Sorry, missed the starling part.  If it is, in fact, a starling, these are not protected - and good luck.

They're actually brilliant talkers.. a little robotic sounding, but similar to a Mynah in its ability.