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In March of this year, we rescued a young female cardinal from our pond when we saw her fall and before she sank. I had fished her out of the pond with a dip net and when I got her to shore we discovered that her left wing had apparently been broken and there was a bad abrasion. We have a hawk in the area that we've seen take several birds. I dried her off, sprayed bactine on the abrasion daily and kept her in a box with food and water hoping she'd recover and we could release her but expecting her to die from the shock of her injury and being handled by humans. No one in the area vets small wild birds. Two weeks later the abrasion was healed but the wing sits at a funny angle. She's able to move it and she can flutter around a little but not enough to fly and survive in the wild. Also I couldn't find a rehab in our area that knew anything about small birds. So, now I've done the terrible thing of bringing her in the house and put her in a cage but I couldn't bear to put her outside to die, I've become very attached. I feed her a mixture of seeds I found especially for cardinals with a little cracked corn and a vitamin treat I found for small birds. I also got a mixture from the pet store to put on her food to control molting, she also gets a liquid vitamin in her drinking water daily. I take her out of the cage daily to clean it and put her in a little travel cage. She's tamed some and sits still to allow me to pick her up to move her from cage to cage. She's been very active and has sung a lot, but recently she stopped singing. She also wasn't eating as well and wasn't drinking as much water. I found a product called Ornacycline at the pet store, for the treatment of respiratory and intestinal bacterial infections in birds, and have followed their directions of mixing a new batch every day in 8 ounces of water and putting it in all of her water dispensers for 5 days. Today is the 5th day, according to the directions, and she's better. She's more active, she's eating better and today she chirped a little. Is there anything else I can do for her, I don't want her to die because of my ignorance.
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Well, I'm sorry to hear that neither a vet or rehab center will take her on. My question is whether you know for sure it is a female. Young birds look just like females. If the bird was singing, it could be a male. Singing normally diminishes in the fall in the wild.
I have to mention that it is illegal to have a captive wild bird, injured or not, without a federal permit. Not that law enforcement will come after you, but you should at least contact your local wildlife official and inform him/her. Someone will have to care for this bird for its lifetime and wildlife people should at least know about it.
I can't tell you exactly what to give the bird, but not many pet store people know very much about anything except canaries and parakeets, and not much then. I don't know why you put any anti-molting product on her food. I don't know what that is but molting is normal and healthy.
Unless the bird is actually diagnosed with a particular kind of infection, it is not good to guess and randomly give the bird an antibiotic, although Ornacycline is a low dose broad-spectrum antibiotic that is probably ok.
Since you have had her since March, I'd say you have been doing a good job, so stick with it. For more information, though, go to my website at www.ornithology.com/rehab.html for more information on treating sick and injured birds.
And thanks for your concern.
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Questioner's Rating
| Rating(1-10) | Knowledgeability = 10 | Clarity of Response = 10 | Politeness = 10 |
| Comment | I appreciate the prompt answer, I'll check with a wild life officer, hadn't thought of them. I assumed female because of her color, didn't match the description of a young bird in my book and I'm willing to take care of her(?) as long as she lives. | ||
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Answers by Expert:
Roger Lederer
Expertise
Any and all about WILD birds - the science of ornithology. Information about birdwatching, ecology, conservation, migration, behavior, banding, rehabilitation, feeding, songs, binoculars, identification, and careers in ornithology. No questions about pet or caged birds, please.
Experience
Have a PhD and over forty years as a professional ornithologist - research, teaching, author, speaker, webmaster of Ornithology.com . Have written thirty scientific papers, three bird field guides, a textbook in ecology and two recent books entitled "Amazing Birds" and "Birds of New England". Have traveled to over 90 countries watching birds.
Education/Credentials
PhD in Zoology/Ornithology; Emeritus Professor of Biological Sciences; former Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at California State University, Chico
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