Over the last 4 days, a beautiful young blue eyed crow has been living in my back yard. He's such a heart-breaker- so young and innocent, and not yet afraid of things that he should be afraid of. I think its a fledgling, just out of the nest, that has either been pushed out of its nest on purpose, or flew out of its nest for the first time and became lost.
There are two adult crows around, who `own' this territory (my yard), and 3-4 other nest sites in the general area. We live in the suburbs of an Australian city, but there is bushland close by and a lot of tall, thick trees in our yard.
I've been watching closely for 4 days, and i am certain that the adult crows don't feed it. When it follows them gaping for food, they attack it. But apart from that, they mostly tolerate it, and talk to it a lot, but they don't act like parents. We have seen them raise young before, and they are very good parents. I can only speculate, but perhaps they kicked it out of the nest due to too large a clutch, or its someone else's baby?
It can fly enough to evade attack and find a roost at night, but it lacks confidence and coordination, and only really flies 2-3 times a day, to roost or sometimes when it is startled. Its gets very hungry and thirsty during the day, so i leave minced meat, chicken bones (with meat on them) , and compost scraps for it, and a lot of water around (I leave these things for other birds too) There are plenty of bugs and lizards in the yard, so I hope he's eating them too, but I don't know.
The part that wrenching my heart is I have to leave on holidays in 8 days. I'll be gone for 9 days in total. I'm confident that it will be able to fly, but I'm not sure about its food supply. I have a sinking feeling that the poor little guy is going to die when I'm gone.
He's not tame enough to catch (and I don't want to do that). Also, I'm trying not to interact too much with it, in hope that it will learn from the other crows and become part of their pack.
What I'm wondering is there any kind of food can leave around for it, that will last 9 days? LIke would cat kibble help, or am just fooling myself?
What would you guys do?
There are two adult crows around, who `own' this territory (my yard), and 3-4 other nest sites in the general area. We live in the suburbs of an Australian city, but there is bushland close by and a lot of tall, thick trees in our yard.
I've been watching closely for 4 days, and i am certain that the adult crows don't feed it. When it follows them gaping for food, they attack it. But apart from that, they mostly tolerate it, and talk to it a lot, but they don't act like parents. We have seen them raise young before, and they are very good parents. I can only speculate, but perhaps they kicked it out of the nest due to too large a clutch, or its someone else's baby?
It can fly enough to evade attack and find a roost at night, but it lacks confidence and coordination, and only really flies 2-3 times a day, to roost or sometimes when it is startled. Its gets very hungry and thirsty during the day, so i leave minced meat, chicken bones (with meat on them) , and compost scraps for it, and a lot of water around (I leave these things for other birds too) There are plenty of bugs and lizards in the yard, so I hope he's eating them too, but I don't know.
The part that wrenching my heart is I have to leave on holidays in 8 days. I'll be gone for 9 days in total. I'm confident that it will be able to fly, but I'm not sure about its food supply. I have a sinking feeling that the poor little guy is going to die when I'm gone.
He's not tame enough to catch (and I don't want to do that). Also, I'm trying not to interact too much with it, in hope that it will learn from the other crows and become part of their pack.
What I'm wondering is there any kind of food can leave around for it, that will last 9 days? LIke would cat kibble help, or am just fooling myself?
What would you guys do?
They would eat just about anything. Now my neighbors are east indians and sometimes they have left over "roti" and they drain it in water, so its soggy and eat able and they chuck it out side, and its gone in less than 5 minutes. You could do the same thing with bread. But that won't work for a long term thing. Hmmm you are here for 8 more days you say. So hopefully by then it will be more matured. Don't worry about it, well you would since you are now some what attached to this single crow. But nature is very weird. I'm sure he'll be fine. Give him a few more days. From the sound of it, he sounds like a pigeon at 3-4 weeks after hatching...just about to be on its own, but still "needs" or i should say "wants" just give him a day. Birds are by far some of the most curious creatures.
