Baby Birds

The kids found these two baby birds out on our basement patio a week ago.  They were the cutest little things.  They were running around and peeping the cutest little peeps that really made you feel sorry for them.  Above you can see one of them in Eric's hand.  Jesikah, Tessa, and Jarem wanted to rescue them along with their friends Divya and Pramika.  They picked them up and played with them and made them a house and tried to find food for them.  Neither our kids nor their friends have any pets, and they all would like a pet, so it was like heaven for them.

Divya and Pramika were spending the night, and the kids were worried as was I, that the birds would not make it through the night, so I started reading online what you could feed them.  There was some sort of mixture you could make with raw hamburger and cottage cheese, but I decided against that.  Instead we went with little pieces of soaked raisins.  They did eat some along with some water from a little teaspoon.  I also read about what to do with them if you find them.  I learned several things, one thing was that birds (unlike other animals) have a very poor sense of smell, so if you touch them and then put them back in the nest, the mother birds will take them back.  The website said to make a nest and put it in a nearby tree if you can't find the nest and the mother will find them.  Above, you can see we made a nest and put it in a tree and the girls went to bed.  The next morning they were up at 6am to see if the birds were still alive.  The birds were out of the nest and running around again on the patio.  So they caught them again.  We tried to feed them again and put them in a bigger tree with a more secure location.  Then we went to the library for storytime.  When we got back, they were gone.  I told them their mother must have taken them back.

Later I was trying to figure out what type of bird they were, and I think I figured out they were baby killdeers.  Funny thing is, killdeers usually have their nests on the ground and the babies have feathers and can walk right after their feathers dry.  They learn to feed themselves by walking around behind their mother and picking up bugs and other things to eat like she does.  After learning this, I felt silly for making them a nest in a tree.  Oh well, I'm pretty sure they escaped and made it back on the ground because I saw one later. 

Words can't describe the excitement these birds brought to our home, but just watch the videos below to see a glimpse of it.

The birds would start following one of the kids around, like it was their mother.  It was pretty funny.  That night even though it was late, we had to read the book, "Are you My Mother?".  It was Alex's favorite book when he was little about a baby bird who got lost and he thought everything he saw was his mother.  It fit so well.  Sadly, it was Jarem's first time hearing the story.  But, he enjoyed it even though it was late.