Little Cardinal

Not my photo

On Monday afternoon I went to go pick my nephews up from their after school program. My dad put their helmets in the back seat and stuffed their bicycles in the trunk of his car and we went there together. I jogged back with them while my father drove their backpacks back home.

Upon returning to their place one of them noticed a baby bird on the driveway. Earlier in the day I had noticed a bird flying in and out of one of the trees by their house and I had heard a bit of chirping. So, of course, I knew there was a nest there.

From watching a lot of television in the past I knew that quite often that if there is more than one chick in the nest the larger one will attack and trying kill or get rid of it's smaller sibling so that it'll get all the food. I'm sure that's what happened here. The little fellow had a few marks on his head from where he had been attacked. There was a mark on his left eye and another larger one on his forehead between his eyes. Poor little guy. The only thing I could think of doing was returning him to his nest. I'm not sure what his chances of survival would be, but they were probably better than being left on the pavement below.

Before I put him back in I thought I'd try to feed him. I dug around the backyard and found a couple of worms which I tried to feed him. For some reason he didn't seem interested. One of the worms I found was tiny. It was the perfect size for him to swallow. The other worm was slightly bigger. I lost the little worm when I tried to get some water to clean them. So I cut the larger one up and stuffed it in his mouth at one of the rare times he opened it. He didn't seem that interested in it. It just sat there in his mouth. Finally I decided I'd better fish it out. So I used two toothpicks like mini chopsticks and plucked it out the next time he opened his mouth. I found the little worm shortly thereafter. After waiting quite a long time for him to open his mouth again I dropped it in. Still he made no effort to swallow. After awhile I decided to put him back in his nest. I hope his big brother doesn't attack him again, but I'm sort of afraid he will.