Expert: Miguel Rodriguez - 7/21/2006

Question
i hope someone can help me, i found a bird about 36hrs ago sitting in the middle of the road surrounded by cats. i brought it home thinking it had been hit by a car and thought it would die shortly out of shock but at least i would save it getting mauled by cats. anyway it has lived for about 36hrs now, it doesnt try to fly but it can walk and now stand up. it doesnt seem to be veyr old and has a last few baby feathers on the wings. i live in lanzarote and am not sure what the bird is. it is brown coloured quite large with a long narrow beak, long legs and a black eye with the yellow ring around. (it is similar in looks to a bittern but the beak is not as long) i hoped it would be ok in a couple of days and i could let it go again. its strength seems to be returning and it seems to be getting over the shock of whatever happened to it. i hoped someone would be able to advise me what to feed it? there is no-where on the island that can offer me help, so i would like to feed it for a few days and hopefully it will be ok then. does anyone have any advice? many thanks.


Answer
You're saying that this bird still has baby feathers. If this is the case then there isn't much to do. When birds are adults and you rescue them, they may have fewer problems in fending for themselves in the wild once you release them after they have healed properly. Chicks, on the other hand, never got to learn how to live on their own.

The best bet would be to try and locate the nest near the spot you found the bird and leave it there. Also, if this is fruitless, then try and contact some wild animal shelter or zoo to see if they can take the bird in.

In the mean while, you might want to feed it with large bugs like locusts or maybe fresh sardines or other small fish, or maybe also ground beef (this is all asuming that you have positively identified the bird as belonging to the heron family).