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Old April 27th, 2007, 01:56 PM
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muskokapuss muskokapuss is offline
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Angry New "Baby" in the house....

Hi all I am proudly owned by 2 cat's Trouble, & Ty-D-Bowl, a Rottie Dog, Stinker and now we have had a new addition...much to my surprise...last weekend we were over at my Dad's house getting it ready to rent out and my husband called me up and said "come over here quick...and bring a box" So over I go to find a little baby woodpecker, poor thing looked half dead with hunger....so like any other time we take in a stray (which for some reason, they seem to find us quite often) I go on the internet and try to research what I can safely do for him before re-releasing him into the wild....First thing I did was bring him back to the same spot for a couple days hoping that his parent's would be calling for him and he would call back and they would come and he would live happily ever after, well after 2 days at 2 hours a try and not a peep. I decided to care for him myself. Well, I spoke to a couple people from my area, who were incredibly helpful and gave me exactly the resources I needed, (little woody is now being feed a gourmet diet of live cricket's, live mealworms, crushed up strawberries/blueberries/peanut mash (shelled and unsalted of course) sunflower seed mash (shelled and unsalted again) and vitamins specifically for wild birds, oh yeah and a calcium suppliment as well, so I mixed it all up in my little blender and put it into a syringe and let him make like a woodpecker and "peck/suck" the stuff out of the syringe, every 2 hours for the first few days...Sleep?? What's Sleep, Who really need's sleep anyway lol. Within 2 days he was up and around and doing wonderfully, so then I tryed to get more info on why a woodpecker baby would be born so early in the year (since pretty much all they eat is insect larvae, insects, fruits, nuts and berries, usually they aren't born until around the end of May)....so I called a rehabber lady that lives about 2 hours from me and asked her a few questions, explaining what was going on and such and how he was being cared for and explained that he was (last weekend) about 1 week away from having his flight tailfeathers all in fully (when we got him he could not fly all he could do was hop) The first thing she did was tell me I obviously didn't know anything about birds and that, there was no way he could be a baby, fledgling etc...so I explained his exact markings right down to the little red patch on his forehead (which indicates he's a fledgling male, the red patch at the back of his head will come later) and his long beak (longer than his head is wide), which indicated (by my extensive research and talking to someone who had been in the same situation as me and raised one himself) he's a Hairy Woodpecker, male, after I explained this all to her, she then told me I would have to put him in a box, pack him into my truck and make the 2 hour drive to where she is. I told her there was no way that was going to happen because I have a sick Autistic child at home with a cold and I was sick as well and there was no way I could get to where she was till at the very earliest maybe the weekend, but that since he had improved so much and was looking much stronger I was satisfied that I could handle him, till he was ready to go back into the wild. She then proceeded to tell me that what I was doing was a blatant violation of federal law because I didn't have a permit to rehab wildlife (though one has been issued to us in the past, but after the animal left we let it expire because it's just a thing we do out of love for the animals, when they come to us, we take care of them till they can go back to the wild, it's not a "business" thing in fact it usually end's up costing me alot of money in special formula's and feed's and vitamins, cages, not to mention lack of sleep) and that I would be levied a HUGE fine, and I was being horribly irresponsible and if that was how I was thinking I should have just left him there to die , I then made the mistake of saying "Doesn't the federal government have a little more pressing things to do other than to "bust" someone who is just trying to help a little bird?? And beside's how would they know???? well she then recited my phone # to me and though didn't outright say she was going to "turn me in" the underlying threat was there....so I ended my last conversation with her telling her she had to do what she had to do, and that I was perfectly prepared to explain the situation to anyone who inquired. I finally did figure out why he was born so early...remember our wacky weather during the past few month's...well it threw off more than just my flower's, because we are seeing young of other species way before their normal time at our feeder's around the house.

So I called the local MNR office and talked to them and explained the problem and what she (the rehabber)said, and the lady, once she stopped laughing (she said, yeah I'm sure that the government has nothing better to do than send out a S.W.A.T team to bust into your house and retrieve the poor bird), and then being very angry that I was told if the rehabber couldn't have him right away, I should have just let him die, she gave me her name and # and said that if I had any further trouble with this person, to have this person call her. Just goes to show you that all so called "rehabber's are not always the best option for some of these poor little critters. (Especially the one's with a "God" complex)..though having said that the 2 "rehabber's" of birds that I did talk to gave me absolutely critical advice and guidance, for which I was and am very grateful.

So this is pretty much just a rant about people that think the world should revolve around them and their time, and what they want and to heck with the rest of us. Anyway, I'm very happy to say that "woody" is very much alive and is almost ready to fly and go free, and I for one am very blessed that I was given the opportunity to care for him, and though I'll miss him ( I also miss my sleep lol), I'd much rather see him at my feeder, (if he chooses to stick around my area) than in a cage.

Okay thank you all...I just really was so frustrated that my head was gonna explode, so I had to get that off my chest

puss
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For my babies, Trouble (little black panther cat-stray) Ty-D-Bowl (my huge grey & white fluffy part cat part raccoon - sure eat's like one anyway-stray) and the newest addition to our furry family, Bear 10 week old black Labradoodle puppy....and of course,

R.I.P. my baby Rottie dog, Sierra (Stinker) 97-07.

Last edited by muskokapuss; April 27th, 2007 at 02:07 PM. Reason: clarification of a couple points
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Old April 27th, 2007, 04:32 PM
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Awww thank you for caring for the little guy,now I know who to ask in case I ever again find a baby-bird,although our Humane Society does a great job,even for birds.
We found a Robins egg on our drive way,looked for a nest but could not find one.
I believe it was to late anyhow,the egg was really cold on that rainy day.
I love the birds outside,have 3 feeders,I saw an Indigo Bunting yesterday at my feeders and was in awe over his beautiful colour!
Hope your little woodpecker will do great
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Old April 28th, 2007, 08:02 AM
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Originally Posted by chico2 View Post
Awww thank you for caring for the little guy,now I know who to ask in case I ever again find a baby-bird,although our Humane Society does a great job,even for birds.
We found a Robins egg on our drive way,looked for a nest but could not find one.
I believe it was to late anyhow,the egg was really cold on that rainy day.
I love the birds outside,have 3 feeders,I saw an Indigo Bunting yesterday at my feeders and was in awe over his beautiful colour!
Hope your little woodpecker will do great
Thanks hon! I really enjoy the time I'm having with him. It's funny you mention the humane society, I called them too, and asked them about the bird, and they said that they are "strictly domestic animals only"....but I'm sure if pushed they may have done something. Indigo Bunting...wow, that's a bird I'd love to see, ...the neatest one I've seen is the Baltimore Oriel up at our trailer, wow was he colourful, he came to our feeder, we have a suet feeder for the woodpeckers and a couple other "song bird" feeders for the rest at the trailer, and at home we have 5 feeders...we just added a niger seed feeder, expensive, but well worth the cost, we've attracted 100's of little finches, flickers, etc...they are beautiful to watch. take care
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For my babies, Trouble (little black panther cat-stray) Ty-D-Bowl (my huge grey & white fluffy part cat part raccoon - sure eat's like one anyway-stray) and the newest addition to our furry family, Bear 10 week old black Labradoodle puppy....and of course,

R.I.P. my baby Rottie dog, Sierra (Stinker) 97-07.
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Old April 28th, 2007, 08:58 AM
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It was so caring of you to rescue that poor baby bird. I can't believe the attitude the rehabber gave you!
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Old April 28th, 2007, 09:37 AM
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chico2 chico2 is offline
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Well,the Indigo Bunting will not stick around,I am sure,even Grossbeaks and Orioles come here,but I believe it's just a rest-area for them,then they go on to wherever they are going to nest.:sad:
I too have a Finch-feeder,I buy my Niger seeds at Costco much cheaper than anywhere else.
We have quiet a few Common Flickers and the little Woodpeckers,love to watch them picking away for bugs.
Our Humane Society is really good,they have a huge cage,where birds get rehabilitated.
Last time I was there there was a couple of birds in there.
I'd love to see a pic of your woodpecker.
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Old April 28th, 2007, 11:30 PM
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We get all kinds of migrants stop here too Chico2. I put out an Oriole feeder for the summer, and they do stop in a few times a week for lunch. Carolina warblers and indigos pause here briefly spring and fall too. I love to see them all.
Good luck with your little woodpecker muskoka. It's wonderful that you were able to save the little fellow. A whack of work to feed a baby bird, but so rewarding.
Too bad you had such a bad experience with the rehabber. Obviously figures she knows everything and she's the only person capable of looking after the baby bird and it's your duty as the person who rescued it to take it to her. She could have offered to come and get it if it was that important to her
Don't let people like that get under your skin. They're so not worth it.

Cindy
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Old April 29th, 2007, 01:27 PM
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muskokapuss muskokapuss is offline
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Talking My little baby woodpecker is back in the wild

This is the final chapter in the whole woodpecker saga and thank God it ended extremely well Yesterday my little winged darling stopped eating me out of house and home in live cricket's and mealworms and the berry/vitamin/calcium/nut/seed mash I was feeding him through a dropper...he decided that getting away was far more important that eating 5 square's a day (of course bear in mind that in his cage there was ground peanuts and sunflower seeds for him to peck at, wild bird seed, and a hanging thingy my hubby picked up for wild birds (including woodpeckers) with dryed corn peanuts, suet, honey and dried berries...so it's not like he was going hungry.... NO ONE but NO ONE goes hungry in MY house lol...(and you outta see the size of us lol...sorry I digress) anyway so this morning he didn't want his fave live meal again so I decided that he was ready to go back to where he should be. First we checked the weather to make sure he'd have a few days of really nice weather to get acclimated then I took him outside to my lilac tree and let him hop on up into it, he hopped right to the top then took off like a pro....and then landed in my neighbours tree like a rookie....which is okay cause he still landed, and he's gonna have to practice the landings anyway....so we bid him goodbye and goodluck, and went back inside, I was kinda feeling all choked up, but good about the whole experience (not really sure what the heck I'm gonna do with the 2 dozen live crickets' and mealworms I still have here though...oh well as long as none of them get loose, I should be fine have I mentioned I HATE bug's big time...but the only thing you can feed a baby woodpecker is bugs, live bugs ) 2 hours later we were getting ready to go paint our rental house and who should come to our feeder??? Yahoo!!! Woody, he pecked away at some nut's and suet and then away he went again. I'll tell you seeing him comeback just for that brief moment made all the work more than worth it. Thank you to all who lended your support to me and my little feathered friend, it was so nice to talk to nice people after that rehabber from hell.

puss

by the way....if and when I can figure out how the heck to get a picture out of my digital camera card thingy and into the computer thingy and up on the screen ....well you all get the picture....I will post one fer sure!!! (they really ought to have a nerd smilie here lol)
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For my babies, Trouble (little black panther cat-stray) Ty-D-Bowl (my huge grey & white fluffy part cat part raccoon - sure eat's like one anyway-stray) and the newest addition to our furry family, Bear 10 week old black Labradoodle puppy....and of course,

R.I.P. my baby Rottie dog, Sierra (Stinker) 97-07.

Last edited by muskokapuss; April 29th, 2007 at 01:31 PM. Reason: by the way....chico2..
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Old April 29th, 2007, 04:02 PM
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That's great news,you have to be really proud of yourself,you saved a little life
It must have been a wonderful feeling seeing him out there.
I bet he'll stick around for a while in your area where food is easily found.
As for those crickets,I would let the poor guys out to live a regular cricket-life
If I know how to put out pics from the camera to the computer,anyone can learn
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