Baby on the Ground-Need advice

[Bob]

I found a baby martin on the ground this evening and my German Short dog was very interested in it.

It started raining, so I could not lower the gourd racks to get him/her back into one of the gourds. What can I do for the little one tonight?

Hopefully tomorrow I can get him back into a gourd and he can find his parents or parents can find him.

Also, how do I find a rehaber in my area?

Bob

[Mary Wilson-SW Ont]

Bob, if he is young enough, and reasonably healthy, he may "gape" for you if you whistle - when he does, you can put some food down. Ideally, crickets if you have some - that is the kind you buy at a pet store, but if you don't have that, microwave an egg - break it into a bowl and mix it well with a fork. Do not add water, but cook it on HI for 45 seconds at a time till fluffy - mash it up with a fork, let it cool, and give him as much of that as he will take voluntarily at one time. Just put it into his mouth with your fingers. If he will eat this way, then one feeding tonight should suffice - they sleep at night, so cover his box or pail with a towel and then feed him again in the morning, about every 30 minutes or so until you get him back into his gourd. I hope you are able to determine which gourd he came from - returning him to the wrong gourd with others larger or smaller than he can cause the death or him or them. All of the feeding described above is easy to do if he "gapes" at a whistle from you. If he doesn't then it becomes difficult, and you should get him either back into his rightful gourd as quickly as you can come daylight, assuming his health seems to be fairly good, or to a rehabber. I don't know how one goes about finding a rehabber; hopefully someone else will assist on that part of your question. Also, you will want to be sure that he didn't jump due to a mite infestation. If so, you must do a nest replacement to get rid of the bulk of the bugs, otherwise he will be driven out again. Hope all this helps you, and good luck with him.

[Guest]

Bob, I agree with Mary...make sure you get the young one in the same gourd or if you're not sure which gourd it came from at least get it back into one with babies of the same age.

You wondered how to find a rehabber; here's a link for you to check out:

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.htm

Find your state and then scroll down through to find your region and look for a rehabber that takes birds. Good luck with the little guy!

[Laverne]

Just FYI - rehabbers can be located by contacting your local veterinarian or if it is after hours call an animal emergency clinic. I found the people very helpful and after four or five phone calls, I finally reached a "bird" rehabber who was familiar with Purple Martins. Where there is a will, there is a way!

Hi Bob.

So, how did it go last night with the grounded baby? I keep a shoe box ready on a shelf in my shed, lined with a pillow case, to hold grounded Purple Martins until I can decide what to do with them. The shoe box mimics their nest cavity and makes them feel safer, calmer and quieter. Finding yourself on the ground and then suddenly picked up by some "huge" predator has got to be very scary for a baby PM.

In most cases, I do not even attempt to feed the bird. I do regular nest checks and keep records of how many young are supposed to be in each nest and when they hatched. So, at any given time, I can tell you the age of a nest and how many young should be in it. Then, through the process of elimination, I can find the nest with the missing young and replace him.

Very important - there is always a reason for a nestling to be out of his nest. The first thing I look for is mites. Mites have always been my number one cause for jumpers.

Please let us know what you find out...

[Bob]

The little one survived the night.

I sat him outside by my finches, parakeets and love birds...as soon as the finches started chirping, he started his own chirps.

I had an extra gourd sitting around and I had it on a shepherds hook. I attached the shepherds hook to one of my martin poles that is empty. The pole sits in between two gourd racks and I know he came from one of those gourds. As I walked away from him, about 12 - 15 martins were checking him out. He was soon sitting at the entrance of the gourd asking for food. Several martins seemed very interested in him and one even entered the gourd with him. He has been in there for 6 hours and seems to be doing fine. I am not sure if any of the other martins are feedng him or not, but for now he is content.

I did e-mail a local rehaber who suggested getting him badk into a gourd and if I could not do that, she referred me to another rehabber.

Thank you for you information.

Bob

[Laverne]

Bob,

I don't think the parents will make the connection between him and their other young in a different gourd. You need to find a gourd with young of his same size and put him in with them. If you have more than one choice - then put him in the nest with the smaller number of nestlings. You don't want to exert undo stress on the parents of an already large brood. However, the size of the nestlings is critical. Bigger than the "foster nestling" and he will be pushed aside when food is delivered and starve. Smaller than the "foster nestling" and he will hog all the food and the original nestlings will suffer - maybe even die.

Please let us know if you need anymore help with your colony.

[Bob]

Laverne, Cathy and Mary,

I was able to get the little back into a gourd with a nest in this evening.

It was raining most of the day and the little one was wet and looked a little weathered.

I was very leary about lowering the gourd rack, because I have 8 active nests on this rack with nestlings at different ages. I was 99.9% sure what nest he came from and I was so concerned, because the nestling that was still in that gourd had been hanging out of it gourd for the past two days. I did not want any nestlings to jump when I lowered the house or fledge too soon. I got the little one ready and I lowered the gourd rack and the nestling in the gourd I was going to put the fallen one into flew out. He/she flew around and I was able to put the grounded nestling in the gourd. With in 10 minutes the parents checked out the gourd and I could see the newly fledged baby flying around. The parents feed the fallen baby, now in the gourd 3 times in about 15 minutes, so I am hoping he will be ok. I am sure he did not have much to eat in 24hrs and hope they continued feeding him until dark set in. I hope the one that fledged makes it back to the nest tonight or atleast to some type of cover. I have two nests that have completely fledged, so if nothing else, maybe he will hook up with those fledglings.

Thank all for your advice...It was a big help!

Bob

[Laverne]

Hi, again, Bob.

I just logged on to my computer at home and read your report. The only thing I can suggest is now that it is dark outside, maybe you can collect that fledgling that jumped and flew when you lowered the housing. I would go out with a flashlight and see if he is still where you last saw him. If you can't find him, don't worry about it. But, if you do, then put him in a shoe box for the night and let him go again in the morning in the presence of his parents. If he flew well, and went to a tree, then don't worry about him, he should be fine.

I am so glad that the parents of the grounded baby set straight in to feeding him - yes, I am sure he was very hungry. I hope they were able to find adequate food for him during the rain.

We will leave all of this in your adequate hands. You are doing a great job! If you need any more assistance, we're here...!!!