Bird Shelter

Apparently I've become the local bird shelter. Last night someone turned up with a baby nightjar found in the road, and it was all hands to rescue mode again! Thank goodness for our bird book, which gives dietary advice..

This time we got one that was more than 2 days old. He was fully-feathered, with beautiful wing markings - but still a bit of downiness. He was gasping for breath and hot - so we gave him a bit of water and then started hunting insects. Only came up with a few flies, but I reckoned it was a start and we'd get some other things later.

Unfortunately though, this tale didn't have a happy ending. Within 2 hours the poor fowl had passed on to another plane. I suspect he spent the entire day sitting out in the hot sun, with an empty crop. By the time we got him it was already too late. I returned him to the wilds to complete the circle of existance and death.

I'm starting to wonder if I should gather advance knowledge on every bird species around here - especially the care and feeding of baby birds - just in case! Who knows what we'll be handed next.