Expert: Bluebird Bob Walshaw - 5/3/2008

Question
My cat caught a nesting female bluebird today, and now I have three, possibly four, hungry baby birds that I am going to try to raise and then release into the wild again. I know it is nearly impossible to do so, but I am not going to just let them starve to death (and I'm not going to feed them to my cat, either.) I've already scoured the internet, but none of the sites that I've found were very specific about what to feed and how to care for nesting and fledgling bluebirds; every site I came across had a different opinion. I was wondering if you could tell me what to do (even better still, what not to do), or at the very least, refer me to some well-informed websites. Thank you!

Answer
First- buy one of the new electronic litter boxes that sweep waste into a closed box so that the cat is never digging in its own waste (and which will save you $ on litter) and never let your cat go out again. They kill millions of birds and small animals. We have domesticated them, but we have never bred the killer instinct out of them.

It is nearly impossible for you to feed and return them to the wild. Even if you could feed them to adulthood they still need to be trained to forage, to avoid predators, etc.

Call your Wildlife Department and your local Audubon and Bluebird societies and see if their is a bird rehabilitator in your area. Also google the North American bluebird Society (they can tell you of a local or state Bluebird Society) and there may be a Bluebirder in your area who has nests of the same age Bluebirds where one or more could be slipped into a nest.

Also send your mailing address to walshaw1@cox.net and I will send you a free 20 page Bluebird book that will make you a Bluebird expert. Bluebird Bob.