Diet for a Small Bird

Say hello to Tweety. Tweety is a Myna bird.

Let me tell you a little story...

LB and I were taking our dogs for a walk last Thursday and came upon a nest that had fallen out of a tree.

"Oh, look at the baby bird!" -LB
"Look at how cute he is." - MP
"Yeah, he's really cute." -LB

At this point, Tweety extended his spindly little neck, tweeting, and opened his enormously wide mouth, shaking it and tweeting.

"Oh, look how hungry he is." -LB
"Poor baby bird." - MP

At this point, Tweety extended his spindly little neck, tweeting, and opened his enormously wide mouth, shaking it and tweeting.

"He's kind of cute." - MP
"Yeah, he's really cute." - LB
"Should we take him home?" - LB
"oh, I don't know if that's a good idea..." - MP

At this point, Tweety extended his spindly little neck, tweeting, and opened his enormously wide mouth, shaking it and tweeting.

"He's really hungry." - LB
"Yeah, he looks hungry." - MP
"He sure is cute..." - LB
"Yeah, he's really cute." -MP
"What if he dies out here?" - LB
"He probably will. Poor baby bird." - MP

At this point, Tweety extended his spindly little neck, tweeting, and opened his enormously wide mouth, shaking it and tweeting. So, LB picked up the nest that Tweety was in, and started carrying him home.

"Wait a sec, what are you doing?" - MP
"Taking him home. You said he was cute and he's really hungry and would die if we didn't help him. So I know you, and you want to take him home and help him." - LB
"NO. I said he was cute, and he is, but I don't want a baby bird! What are we going to do with a baby bird?" -MP
"Well, it's too late now, we've got a baby bird." - LB

So, somehow, we are the proud parents of Tweety.
Tweety has to be fed once an hour all day long. (Guess who gets to feed Tweety. Hint: Not the one who brought him home.)
Tweety lives in an empty Corona box with an old towel as a nest.
Our dogs want to eat Tweety (we won't let them).
Tweety poos all over the place every time he eats. (Guess who gets to clean Tweety too)

But he is cute. Especially when he extends his spindly little neck, tweeting, and opens his enormous little mouth and begs for food. It's especially cute because he does it now if we whistle at him.

Tweety is an invasive species, as are many of the birds here (couldn't get lucky and find some kind of an endemic pretty parrot-looking thing, could we?). And while he might have died in the wild (which I would have been fine with - that's nature, right?), I don't want him to die now that he's with us. We'll most likely release him as soon as he fledges and can eat on his own - supposedly, after 29-35 days. Stupid cute bird. Stupid soft heart. I'll keep you updated on Tweety's progress - he's much stronger now than when we found him. He opened his eyes the day after we brought him home and gets more feathers every day (ie. gets cuter too). Btw, we're not sure Tweety is a he or she, but for whatever reason, we decided he looks like a he, so there you go.

My brother and I actually raised 3 baby magpies in Colorado on dog food when I was a kid because their mother was killed (I won't go into the details of how, but suffice it to say we knew it was their mother). They all successfully fledged and hung around the farm where I grew up for quite a while. I'm definitely NOT condoning raising baby birds (nor taking them or any other wild animal out of the wild and into your home to raise them - especially marine animals!! Do as I say and not as I do!), but sometimes it just so happens that you end up with a baby bird (ahem, like when your husbands decides to bring one home), and well, I guess if you find yourself with one, here's what you can feed them:

Diet for a Small Bird (specifically, a baby Myna bird), serves 1

Soak several pieces of dry dog kibble in warm water until soft, then smash with a fork or a mortar and pestle. Feed the equivalent of 3 kibble pieces to the baby bird using blunt plastic tweezers, per hour while you are awake and until it gets dark in the evening. Occasionally, mix it up with small pieces of apple bananas or papaya, as Myna's are omnivorous. After feeding, give him a few drops of water via a plastic dropper. Try not to fall in love, and hope he fledges quickly.