Foster Butcher Bird

[hankdog]

This is our little Tim, he and his brother fell out of their nest last Sunday. I replaced his slightly bigger sibling back with the third baby. The nest is small for three and I figured he would just end up on the floor again so I rigged a nest in the tree and his parents are feeding him by day and I bring him in and top him up with mealworms at night.

I'm considered the enemy and although they turn up to beg treats when I'm training Jake they bomb me at other times.

Edited October 4, 2013 by hankdog

[BC Crazy]

Magic pic's hankdog :)

[persephone]

awww :) happy ending!

[Roova]

That's so awesome!

It's a shame the old wives tail which says if you touch a baby bird the parents will abandon it is so well known. There would probably be so many babies parents would have continued to care for had they been given the chance. What you've done is so cool.

[Kirislin]

you're brilliant! What an amazing outcome, I dont think I would have thought to do that, but I will now if I find one. I love butcherbirds, especially the pied ones, which sadly we dont have here. I think they have the most beautiful call of all the native birds I've heard.

[tdierikx]

I've had the pleasure of looking after 2 sets of Currawong babies that fell out of the tree at where I used to work... one set each year for 2 years.

Funny thing was that once they were able to get enough lift to fly, I took them back to the tree at work and their parents started feeding them again - after 3 weeks in my care and nowhere near their parents!

Some birds are highly strung, and can die of fright if handled too much - but some are just fine to hand rear if you have the determination to see them through. With my Currawong babies, I didn't handle them at all, just kept them in a very large box and fed them raw meat when they started squawking for a feed (they are carnivores) - I used long nosed pliers to simulate their parents' beak when feeding too, so they were pretty fine about the whole procedure.

Love the photo of the adult Butcher bird giving you the evils... *grin*

T.

[Alyosha]

Awesome job Hankdog!!

[hankdog]

And this is the last thing you see before a butcherbird has a try at pulling your hair.

[hankdog]

Last Thursday when I went to fetch Tim and he was AWOL, searched that night and the next morning. Gave up and went to turn on the hose and there he was. Popped him back but when I came home from my walk he was on the steps so I climbed up the tree and put him in the original nest. I was pretty happy I did because they all flew off the next day. I've been picking them up and popping them in trees when I find them. There are too many cats around to leave them on the floor. Hopefully I'll be seeing them in years to come.

All three in the nest, Tim is in the middle.

Not too fussy who he begs from.

Edited October 14, 2013 by hankdog

[CrazyCresties]

That's a fantastic outcome hank! Well done and love the photos too :)

[tdierikx]

Love the last shot of him begging from the squeaker... did it give him anything?

T.

[hankdog]

No but they've also got little ones bopping round the garden. The butchers and squeakers seem tolerant of each other but they hate the kookaburras. Up until last year we had a nest in an old tree, it came down in a big wind though and they've moved on. They must be close though because occasionally one ventures into the garden and then all hell breaks loose. United against a common enemy I guess.

[Loving my Oldies]

Great photos and story, hankdog.