Wet orphan crow can't fly- will he be ok?

[Pidgey]

I got the dosage information out of the avian formulary published in CLINICAL AVIAN MEDICINE by Harrison. It (that formulary) can be access online at the IVIS site.

Pidgey

[jameswaller]

Originally Posted by Bella_F

This morning I did my usual walk to find the little crow, to give him some food. He's usually in the park or somewhere near by, and I find him by following his cries.

We had some really heavy rain last night and this morning, and when I went looking for him it was still raining. I found him a little off course, crying loudly under a tree in a person's yard about a block away. He was *really* crying and obviously distressed. The windows of the house were open so I thought it would be rude to just throw food over the fence for the crow. So I called him and watched him for a while, and tried to coax him up onto the fence.

Then the lady from the house came out with a broom and started banging it loudly on the ground to scare it, and yelled at it to shoo it away. The little crow became really scared and distressed, and tried to fly away. But its wings are soaked and it couldn't get any elevation. It kind of tumbled & fluttered around crying out.

Anyway, I called out to the lady and told her all about the crow, where it lives, and how it doesn't have any parents and it needs to be fed. She and her husband, though not bird lovers, were ok with that and invited me around to feed it. I stayed in their yard as long as I could without being impolite, gave him some food, and told them that he'll probably flutter around their yard and cry until he's dry again. They seemed ok about it, a bit coolish, but ok.

Its stopped raining now; do you think he'll dry off enough to fly again soon? He's trying to get up to the top of a bin, which would allow him to get onto the lower branches of a big tree. He'll be right if can make it to those branches, but when I left him he couldn't even flutter to the top of the bin.

Any ideas? Of course I've thought about catching him, but theres no cats or dogs around and he's not in immediate danger, he just needs to dry off. I don't know long that will take though...

with all do respect,treat him like a pigeon,mom is not coming back anytime soon,.he does require caring for,.a bird that does not fly will die,soon,/wet-sooner,...if possible capture and keep in a box in a quiet part of the house/warmth/water/food,kinda all the same,.ie baby pigeon-this is an excellent website for info,..hope the little guy makes it..sincerely james waller jewaller01@msn.com

[Bella_F]

Hi James, Sadly I didn't know him during the phase when he was a helpless thing on the ground that could be just picked up; he turned up in my yard a month ago, when he was already flying and was unapproachable. If I'd known better, I might have somehow caught him on the first day or two of knowing him, but at that stage I wasn't sure that he was orphan. It took me days to be sure, as he was hanging around a pair of adult crows. I guess I was just hoping he was theirs and everything was rosy, but it wasn't. He got chased out of my yard by other birds, and has been living in a park across the road ever since.

He's made it on his own for over a month; he is so smart, but I hurt for him because he starts every day, and ends every day, with trying to join another crow family. He's been like this for the entire time- obsessed with the other crows, and yearning to be with them. They let him sit with them, but his begging is never rewarded, and when they soar away, he is not quite strong enough to follow yet, though he tries like heck.

Its always been my goal to feed him up enough so that he will be strong enough to have his dream come true...to be with the other crows. But he's not there yet, and I don't know if I can do enough to help him. But I have to try.

[Mindy]

I just read this thread, I'm actually really curious on what happened to the crow. Bella, I really can't believe, that you hear a bird CRYING for help for days, and you don't take it home. I have a pet starling and he is the best pet I have ever had. He was crying in my chicken coup and it took me about 3 minutes to decide to bring it in my home. Not 3 weeks. min

[Bella_F]

Hi Mindy,

Tell me about it, I am full of regrets, but also very happy that he is six months old now, alive and well. His major flight feathers have taken a long time to molt; his tail has just molted (looking beautiful, and improving his flight dramatically). His wing feathers will probably take another 2 months to completely molt. I really want these ones to grow properly, so I I'm going to continue my feeding regime 3 times a day over the winter until he's tip top condition.

Most of his behavior at this age seem to revolve around building skills for becoming part of the local flock. He's becoming more competitive, fighting for his food a bit more, flying and roosting with them. I think he seems like a happy, lively bird; even though it was probably a pretty dumb way to care for a fledgling, it was also probably his only chance at living wild and free in the long term. A carer would not have released him with such poor feathers, and by 8 months of age, it would have been hard on him to be released. He is a personable bird too, and I fear that he would have been tamed and then killed as a non-releasable bird, as usually happens in these cases.

I dunno, I guess I'm just happy he's made it; what a miracle he is.