On Saturday we were busy in the yard cutting grass and what not when all of a sudden I saw this tiny little bird on the ground by our birch tree the only reason I saw him in the grass was he was hopping about a bit then he would fall over . Know we now there is an Oriel nest way up in our tree as we hear them every time Mama or Papa bird showed up but lord knows how he made it all that way down and over to where I saw him with our any injuries that we knew of . He was still covered with his soft fuzzy feathers and hadn't quite developed his flight feathers yet either he was very young .
Poor little fellow was cheep cheeping for his family as they were for him way up at the top .
Papa went to his workshop and tried to build a little nesting box to put up on the tree for him so that the parent's could still feed him and he would be safer then on the ground from all the feral cats we have about and other birds picking on him .
Then very gently with gloves on Papa picked the little one up and placed him in the box .Every time Papa got close to him the little one thought it was feeding time and opened his mouth and got all excited .
He had a strong grip of the grass and as Papa put him in the box in the tree he wouldn't let go of Papa's glove lol !
Papa Oriel did find him and did feed him for a while there but this little guy was determined to get up on the side sit there then plop out every now and then , so Papa picket him back up off the ground and put him back into the box .
So Papa decided to make the sides a bit higher to stop him from falling out and to protect him a bit more .
He didn't seem to mind the air gun sound as Papa was making the sides higher all he wanted was to be fed .
So after that he stayed inside and didn't plop out any more and Papa and Mama Oriel were back and forth between the nest and the box feeding him . Papa had put grass and a few small birch branches in and over the box for added comfort .
So after all this he seemed to be fine and we were happy we were able to help him .
But sadly by Sunday morning he had passed away for what ever reasons we do not know so Papa removed him from the box and said our goodbyes as we placed him in our Birch tree garden with a little head stone . Only 20% of baby Oriels make it to adult hood, one reason they lay so many eggs in that tiny hanging type basket they build .
Nature is beautiful but it is tough for all of it and a fight of the strongest and fittest to survive the first few weeks of their new life and us humans think we have it tough and hard not even close , wild life has it even harder and tougher times and that's why us humans need to help and be aware of it all and realize that wildlife and nature plays one of the biggest roles of this planets survival and ours !
Today June 20th First Day Of Summer
Happy Summer !
Until next time .
8 comments:
Very sad, but you know that you made all of the very best efforts that you could. xx
How lovely that you tried to save the baby oriole.
Thunder storms moving in, so not sure if I'll get to see the full moon or not.
The poor thing....
It's heart-breaking to see that. You did all you could and much more than most would. Poor wee thing. The beauty of nature makes us forget how hard it is for these little creatures. We really do need to help them any way we can. To provide nesting areas, food and especially water in the hot summer takes a little of the struggle from them.
Oh dear.....you both tried to save the Oriole....
I heard my Oriole babies all weekend...they are a noisy bunch!
Enjoy your week....no rain here tonight....
Cheers!
Linda :o)
So sad, but thank you for trying to save him. I love songbirds and they all have such a hard go at surviving, on the decline with cats, office building, habitat.very sad.Blessings Francine.
It was kind of your husband to do all he could to help the baby bird. I didn't realize so few survived and wasn't expecting the sad outcome.
Karen
so kind of you for trying! Sorry he didn't make it!
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