Thread: Need help with sparrow rescue problem

I have a problem with rescuing some sparrows that nested in my air conditioner. They nested between the window sill under the AC unit. Between the constant chattering noise (it's the AC in my home office) and worries about them getting cooked from the heat of the AC unit when it's on, I decided to move them. There's a tree right outside the window, so I got a wooden parakeet bird box and carefully moved the nest into the box. There are 5-6 baby birds in there. Maybe a few weeks old.

Then I thought maybe the box was too far, and an hour later I put it outside the AC unit off to the side, so that when the mother comes by to see her babies, she'd see the box with the entry facing her.

Problem is, I have no idea whether she's been back since yesterday afternoon, and I'm worried sick that the babies might die. Worse yet, when I called an animal rescue place, they said it sounded like sparrows and that sparrows in Illinois are considered "nuisances" like mice and that nobody would rescue them. I gave them a colorful piece of my mind. They're babies!

So...what can I do? I want to know how to tell if the mother is coming back without having to wait to find a bunch of dead baby birds to know she hasn't. I'm not sure I could feed them myself, and I'd be pretty scared that I'd hurt them trying. So...any advice?

How good are you at regurgitating food?

Most major cities have at least one bird rescue organization, you should maybe look them up and give them a call and they could advise you of the proper action to take.

Stick a thin piece of cellotape over the entrance or stick a piece of thread accross the entrance. If it is broken later in the day, they probably paid a visit.

Thanks guys. It looks like there are some droppings outside the box, but I don't want to go out there to check too close so that I don't scare the mother away if she's there. I figured I'd climb up there and check tonight.

So if it seems like the mother hasn't been around (have not seen her on the webcam all afternoon) my best bet is to take them to one of the rescue places? I've talked to a few, so I have some options. I would prefer the birds to stay with the mother if possible, but I don't want to wait another day or two because I'm worried about them not eating all day if she hasn't been around.

LOL! (Q), I am so worried about them that I may start spontaneously regurgitating food!

Since the babies are going to perish anyway I seriously suggest that you plan a scientific experiment that involves sparrow babies.

It would be a shame if their lives would have not contributed to the progress of mankind.

I agree with Spurious. They're goners. Forget it.

Wow, there are some seriously cold-hearted assholes here.

I guess you'll be in ecstasy knowing they did indeed die during the night. Apparently the mother did not come back and the temp dropped too low during the night.

To those decent human beings who were actually helpful, thank you. I'm mourning the loss of 5 beautiful lives right now. To those who think it's funny, you can rot in hell.

another example (if any more were needed) that nature doesn't care about human or avian happiness

The mother just abandoned them and started a new litter. That's what usually happens.

It is evolutionary more sound to just start again, especially since the summer has just started.

Nothing cold-hearted about it.

Life is what it is.

I find it cold-hearted when people say they care about children and other people and still drive around in cars or do similar things that are part of the concept of 'the good life'. That's saying a big fuck you to the next generation.

It's not like people care about what is going to happen to humans in 100 years time.

Should we really worry about the offspring of a sparrow when that sparrow is just going to make some more?

I think not.

Originally Posted by Bird-Newbie

Wow, there are some seriously cold-hearted assholes here.

I guess you'll be in ecstasy knowing they did indeed die during the night. Apparently the mother did not come back and the temp dropped too low during the night.

To those decent human beings who were actually helpful, thank you. I'm mourning the loss of 5 beautiful lives right now. To those who think it's funny, you can rot in hell.

Awee sweetie welcome to the world of dominant left brained people, where logic too often supercedes emotional kindness. I am glad my Mother forced me to to nurture both sides of my brain equally, with that being said I am sorry the bird babies died. I too have tried to save countless turtles crossing the street. Only to find it dead the next day (presumably the same one). Nature has it's final say unfortunatly even if we sometimes don't agree.

I find it cold-hearted when people say they care about children and other people and still drive around in cars or do similar things that are part of the concept of 'the good life'. That's saying a big fuck you to the next generation.

I do agree with you completely on this.

Originally Posted by Bird-Newbie

Wow, there are some seriously cold-hearted assholes here.

I guess you'll be in ecstasy knowing they did indeed die during the night. Apparently the mother did not come back and the temp dropped too low during the night.

To those decent human beings who were actually helpful, thank you. I'm mourning the loss of 5 beautiful lives right now. To those who think it's funny, you can rot in hell.

No one thinks it's funny, they're just being realistic. Countless "beautiful lives" are lost every day thanks to human activities (and thanks to "natural" non-human activities, but somehow those don't count); I understand you're being bummed that your efforts to help didn't work out, but there's no sense in making a big fuss over it.

After all, wasn't one of your initial reasons for moving them because the noises they made bothered you? That could be construed as cold-hearted.

And just for future reference, handling chicks or nests with chicks with your bare hands is usually guaranteed to make the mother abandon them. Your smell on the babies and/or the nest tends to scare the parents away.

Originally Posted by Bird-Newbie

I have a problem with rescuing some sparrows that nested in my air conditioner. They nested between the window sill under the AC unit. Between the constant chattering noise (it's the AC in my home office) and worries about them getting cooked from the heat of the AC unit when it's on, I decided to move them.

I'm sorry! That may or not have been well intentioned, but the fact is that they died because you moved them. Any allegedly heartless comments by other members here do not alter the fact that they died because you moved them. The responsibility is yours and not that of the members here. A fledgling needs a huge amount of food as it grows. You can go for days without food, a fledgling's life would be measured in hours. Please don't try shoving your guilt onto others who are just being realistic.

So you run an airconditioner. Do you know how many lives of African children you could save each year by not running the airconditioner and instead contributing the saved money to programs designed to provide clean drinking water, or anti malarial controls. Apparently you care more about your own comfort and the well being of some sparrows than you do about the lives of African children. Yes? So please don't come on here attacking people for indifference when you are guilty of a) creating the original problem and b) lacking concern for your fellow human, just because they don't live in your airconditioner.

P.S.
Welcome to the forum.

In my defense, I am a professional baby killer. Just usually not sparrows. Just rodents.

You can't expect me to get all worked up about a few sparrows when I purposely breed mice so I can kill pregnant mothers or puppies.

I don't feel guilt since tax payer's money goes to my salary. I see that as a sign of approval from society. Otherwise it wouldn't fund research.

I assume.

Maybe one day I will cure cancer.

Or prove WTC didn't collapse.

Sfere wrote:

Awee sweetie welcome to the world of dominant left brained people, where logic too often supercedes emotional kindness. I am glad my Mother forced me to to nurture both sides of my brain equally, with that being said I am sorry the bird babies died. I too have tried to save countless turtles crossing the street. Only to find it dead the next day (presumably the same one). Nature has it's final say unfortunatly even if we sometimes don't agree.

Thanks Sfere. Yeah, sometimes we step in and nature nails us for interfering. Hard lessons for sure.


Paralith wrote:

After all, wasn't one of your initial reasons for moving them because the noises they made bothered you? That could be construed as cold-hearted.

No, my main concern was them getting killed by the heat of the exhaust of the AC unit. I've seen plenty of people move out a window unit at the end of summer and there are dead birds there, presumably from the intense heat of the heat exchange. I would have tolerated the noise, but the deciding factor was the safety issue of running the thing. I was afraid they'd get cooked and wanted them in a safer place.

John Galt wrote:

I'm sorry! That may or not have been well intentioned, but the fact is that they died because you moved them. Any allegedly heartless comments by other members here do not alter the fact that they died because you moved them. The responsibility is yours and not that of the members here. A fledgling needs a huge amount of food as it grows. You can go for days without food, a fledgling's life would be measured in hours. Please don't try shoving your guilt onto others who are just being realistic.

I'm not shoving my guilt onto others. I take full responsibility for moving them, and for them dying. That's why I'm so depressed. But I'm angered by stupid, snippy comments about "conducting experiments" on them since "they're dead anyway". Only a heartless scumbag would say such a thing.

Racist comments removed. You are on thin ice, Newbie. Disagreeing with another member's comments is one thing but proclaiming an entire continent full of people as ignorant and worth less than a single sparrow is in itself extremely ignorant and is a baseless, racist attack. Any further posts in this nature will get you banned.
Paralith

Originally Posted by Bird-Newbie first

Only a heartless scumbag would say such a thing.....

but then....

Secondly, we send billions of dollars to that ass-backwards, prehistoric hellhole and all they do is use the money to kill themselves. I'm an American. I don't give a damn about stupid starving savages in Africa. They're not my responsibility. My government illegally and unconstitutionally steals a huge chunk of my paycheck every week and sends it to the worthless people over there without my permission to begin with. They have my "forced contribution" and they should be thankful for that...

and...

You're damn right I do. I'd trade one sparrow's life for the lives of every negro in Africa. I'd spend my last dollar to cool my room on a hot summer night rather than waste that money on a bunch of savages who aren't going to contribute squat to the world regardless of whether they live or die.

Huh? Can this be for real? Notice where I am from. Screw you and the swallows! It is clear that you are nothing more than a racist, arrogant and ignorant simpleton. You disgust me.

Racist comments removed. Been nice knowing you, Newbie.
Paralith

Well that was an unpleasant experience.
Bird-newbie actually managed to make archaeologist sound tolerant and reasonable. That's quite an achievement.

Originally Posted by John Galt

Well that was an unpleasant experience.
Bird-newbie actually managed to make archaeologist sound tolerant and reasonable. That's quite an achievement.

I almost don't even have words. I'm stunned, people can be pretty narrow minded. Wow talk about emotional and mental drainage. Does this mean Archy has a shot at redemption John?

Shows you can't trust emotional people. If people can equal rescuing sparrows and exterminating a continent as good based on emotion, then it definitely means that emotions are bad.

I for instance never considered this particular continent as worthless, yet I didn't shed much tears about some baby sparrows.

These considerations were based on knowledge.

Maybe a heartless scientific biological machine is more moral than an emotional sympathetic human being..

Originally Posted by Sfere

Does this mean Archy has a shot at redemption John?

Personally, based purely upon opinion, emotion and self serving interest, I'd only give Archy a shot at redemption if I got to take a shot at him first with a 12-bore shotgun.

More logically, I note that while Archy believed the vast majority of humanity were going to perish in hell, he was trying to tell us how to avoid that fate. Bird-Newbie on the other hand, although focusing on only a single continent, seemed to welcomd the idea that they could suffer such a fate. So, yes - Archie was hopelessly misguided and arrogant, but he actually had some respect for human life.

I readily admit that my remarks about the cost of maintaining our life style versus the cost of saving lives was a fishing expedition to generate a response. I thought I might catch a catfish. I didn't expect to find an ichthyosaur on the end of my line. (Ichtyosaurs are large, ugly, vicious, primitive and extinct.)

how do you know they were vicious (and primitive, for that matter) ?

Maybe they were master masturbators similar to dolphins in a freak event of convergent evolution?

the filthy beasts ! they should cut off their hands !

oh, they don't have any ?

Isn't a hand nothing more than a fancy fin?

Originally Posted by marnixR

how do you know they were vicious (and primitive, for that matter) ?

Mary Anning transformed the world in which we live and helped usher in the discoveries that led to Darwin's work. Her story and that of men such as Gideon Mantell and Richard Owen are beautifully told in The Dinosaur Hunters by Deborah Cadbury. I found it moving to stand by her grave in Lyme Regis on the Dorset coast, a World Heritage site known now as the Jurassic Coast.

She found the first and several more examples of Ichthyosaurs which can be seen today in the Natural History Museum in London. If my memory serves me correctly they are mounted on the wall just ouside the cafeteria and museum shop. The teeth look vicious to me and I have ancestors who were fish, so I know vicious in a marine predator when I see it.

It it rightly described as primitive since no specimens were ever found with iPods or mobile phones.

Ok, but did any of them have a PhD?

I have birds nesting in my roof, just above my bed. Listening to them come and go, and feed their young, is extremely relaxing.

Originally Posted by spuriousmonkey

Ok, but did any of them have a PhD?

at least one did

they don't look vicious at all. Just curious.