Sparrow Rehab

Thursday, 7/12/2012, as I was heading out to get our mail from our curbside mailbox, a noticed a little sparrow fluttering on the ground by the front wheel of my car, which was parked a few feet away from the mailbox in the shade of our two olive trees. 

I called, Jim, a.k.a Doc Doolittle, to check out this little guy who seemed to be having difficulty staying in flight.  Every time he tried to fly, he fell over on his side and crash landed on the ground.  After several attempts, Jim was able to scoop him up and bring him into our tiny Tucson backyard and patio to take a closer look at this adolescent English Sparrow. 

You see, over the course of 5 years, Jim has succeeded into turning our tiny backyard into a bonafiable wildlife habitat.  Along with a family of hummingbirds who frequent two hummingbird feeders, there are also sparrows, doves, thrashers, woodpeckers, and a resident hawk who keeps a watchful eye, from a nearby Ponderosa Pine, of all the comings and goings.

Jim determined that sparrow was not a he but a she and that she seemed pretty far gone.  He decided to do what he could to make her last hours comfortable; placing her in a safe corner of our yard, under a Texas Ranger bush, along with some bird seed and water. 

This morning, when Jim went to check on her, he fully expected he would not find her alive and would be giving her a proper burial. To his surprise she was still alive and a bit more alert, too.  She had become used to him handling her so Jim decided to try to hand feed her.  She was still pretty wobbly, not able to stand very long without falling over and could not fly very far without crashing to the ground.  At least she was crashing into the soft lawn rather than the hot blacktopped street. 

Jim attempted to hand feed her some wet, mashed up birdseed, but she refused it.  He left her under the Texas Ranger to rest and gain back more of her strength. 

This evening, when it began to rain, Jim decided she needed to come in out of the rain and into our covered patio.  When Jim retrieved her from her bush sanctuary, she seemed much more alert and could now balance herself on his finger!

I suggested he try hand feeding her a different concoction;  oatmeal and flax seed soaked in warm water.  The results were astounding.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdTA_7lZR6Y&feature=youtu.be&a





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