Did I do right?

[mhdishere]

The other day my wife told me that, when she left for work, she found two baby birds in the driveway.  She pushed them aside so she wouldn't run over them and went to work, figuring nature would take it's course.

When I got home that night she showed me that one of the birds was nowhere to be found and the other had rolled off of the driveway into the grass and was cheeping.  It had apparently been there all day on a hot day.  Having heard that once a baby bird falls out of its nest the mother won't bring it food, believing therefore that the bird was doomed to die of starvation, I did what I thought proper, I killed it quickly and cleanly with a shovel.  I'm certain it never knew what hit it.

As I've said before, I LOVE animals of all kinds.  Sometimes we have to kill animals (like when mice get into the house) but I won't torture any animal (hence refuse to use glue-traps for mice, I generally use humane traps and release them in the woods because I've yet to find a mouse trap that will always kill cleanly).

So, did I do the right thing?  Was this bird going to die anyway and did I really put it out of its misery?

Or am I just a softy for wondering about this in the first place?

[TarpleyG]

You did the right thing.  I know you are questioning your actions now but in a day or so, you'll be okay.  You had no way to raise it properly without the mother.

Greg

[BobCat]

No one can say for sure whether the mother bird might have picked up the baby had you not intervened, but as far as I'm concerned you did the right thing.

And I am no one to judge you for "being a softy" or not - but IMHO you are not a softy, just exhibiting the mental processes of a decent person.  FWIW and so forth.

Purrrs,
BobCat

[mhdishere]

Thanks for the comments.  I guess part of it is that, except for fish I've caught and lobsters I've boiled I've never killed anything larger than an insect before.  Part of me is glad I was able to do what I felt needed to be done, I could have just left it there but hated to see it suffer.

As for the mother picking it up, I assumed that if it was still on the ground when I got home 12 hours after my wife first saw it in the morning then that wasn't going to happen.  I thought the best possible scenario was that the mother was feeding it there in the grass, but I doubted that and figured that it would fall prey to predators if it didn't starve.  I was really surprised that it lasted as long as it did.

[grampster]

The fact that you are conflicted about the action you took speaks volumes about your character.  But, then, if you were not a man of sterling character you would not be a gun owner, a believer in the Constitution and a denizen of TAPS.

[mhdishere]

Grampster,
That has to be the second highest compliment I've ever recieved, the first being when my wife said "I do".  Thank you.

[Pb]

Put the bird back in the nest if possible (parents may return).  If the nest is destroyed, you can make an artifical nest with some sort of plastic bowl, and nail it to the tree the nest was in.  The parents can hear their offspring.

Or, you can take them to a local wildlife rehabber.

[grampster]

mhdishere,
     
      My pleasure, sir.

[P95Carry]

mhdishere - I can but second Gramp's comment - I too have faced such decisions and inevitably, after the event - there is ''soul searching''.

But then we are - thank heaven '  sentient beings.

[Antibubba]

You did the right thing.

BTW, was the shovel 9mm or .45?  

[brimic]

Doing the right thing is often times not the same thing as doing the easy thing.

Then again, you might have ruined a live meal for an owl, hawk or coyote.

[mhdishere]

OK folks, I did a little internet digging (Google is your friend) and found the following on various bird-watching web sites.

What I found was a hatchling, it had no feathers or fuzz or anything, it looked like a tiny chicken in the grocery store fridge.  These RARELY survive out of the nest.  This one also had a deformed leg, which may explain why it was pushed out in the first place.  I could have put it back in the nest if I'd found it, but it could have come from any one of several TALL trees on or near my property.  I also could have made a nest out of a plastic bowl with drainage holes punched in it, lined it with dried leaves or grass and nailed it 7 or 8 feet high on a nearby tree in hopes the parents would find it and feed it, but like I said it's not likely it would have survived anyway.  This method works much better with birds that are covered with fuzz (think baby chicks) I forget what they're called.

The birds most people find are fledglings, they're fully feathered and almost ready to leave the nest, but havn't quite mastered flying.  If you find one of these just leave it alone, its parents will probably get it back to the nest.  If it's in danger of getting run over by cars or something you can move them.

Contrary to popular belief, you can touch a baby bird to put it in a nest, its parents won't reject it.  Birds have very little sense of smell.  A bigger danger, believe it or not, it that your scent will attract a predator to the bird.

While none of the bird-watching sites recommended putting the bird out of its misery it seems I really only sped things up.  And because of this experience I now know what to do if/when I find another bird.

Antibubba: The shovel was your basic wood-stocked, steel, square-edged, general purpose shovel, capable of digging any dirt in the lower 48 although it's a little light for Montana dirt in January.  It's not a SHS (Short Handled Shovel), not does it have the evil D-handle grip, an evil yellow fiberglass handle, a rubber comfort grip,  or the pointed spade-shaped tip.  It's the 30-30 1894 Winchester lever-action of shovels.

Thanks for all the kind comments folks.  My second-guessing was really a matter of making sure I did the right thing and wanting to do the right thing in the future.  It never even occured to me do research what to do with a baby bird, but now the information is filed away should I ever need it again.  It's good to know my gut instincts at the time were correct or at least didn't do any harm.

[USP45usp]

When I have to put down an animal (or bird), it tugs at my heart to have to do so but it had to be done.

Sounds like the bird was newly hatched and was either kicked out by the parents (deformed) or something attacked the nest, something that small usually can't get out of the nest by it's own.

Now, if it were alittle older, you can handfeed the bird by dipping bread into water and then feed them.  When they are older they don't have to have really (how can I say it, the way birds feed their young without making people get a mental image and then get sick...) stuff.

Once the bird is able to fly (it will start to try to spread it's wings more) and "hop flys" then you let it until it looks as it is ready for a long flight.  This is when you catch it and then let it go outside.

This works about maybe 1 out of 3 times, depending on the health of the bird when found.  Also, it's alot of work because they need to be feed constantly and need to be kept warm (a lamp will do this, just ensure it's not too hot).

Also, don't worry about "taming" it, birds don't tame well unless it's been breed into them and sometimes not even then.

Wayne

[grislyatoms]

When I was 7 or 8 Dad took me fishing with a friend of mine.

Being that age and no fish biting we wandered away from my Dad.

Picture Mama duck swimming along with her 8 or 9 little ducklings all strung out in a line behing her.

Picture a couple of stupid 7-8 year olds wading into the water to "catch" a pet duck.

Imagine said stupid kid (me) chasing one duckling onto the bank and accidentally stepping on it.

Imagine stupid kid standing there watching the duckling convulsing and writhing around.

Dad saw what happened and came over and wrung it's neck.

I didn't say anything that night.

Right before bed, Dad came in and asked me if I learned anything. I just busted out crying, almost to the point of hysteria.

Believe me, I understood what he did for that duckling.

I think you made a good choice.