A Little Bit More
Most of us have come across a lone animal in some natural setting and immediately assumed it needed to be rescued. This scenario is repeated over and over each year by thousands of people trying to help out wildlife in need, only to realize they really didn’t know what to do with their “patient” once they had it. Baby birds, small mammals, insects, reptiles and even spiders die at the hands of well-meaning people who think they’re going to help, but end up doing just the opposite.
One of the most common “rescued animals” are baby birds found hopping around one’s garden or yard. For many birds, there is a time when their babies leave the nest even though they can’t yet fly. The parents continue to feed these young – called fledglings - but the babies are more or less on their own as they hop around in low shrubs etc gradually learning to fly and feed themselves. Although the casual observer may not see any parents taking care of these fledglings, careful observation will confirm that the parents are indeed visiting the babies with food from time to time and all is well. This is the way it’s supposed to work - we shouldn’t interfere.
Granted, there ARE times when its obvious that an animal is in need of help: an animal in the road, a baby bird being stalked by a cat, a caterpillar that accidentally got inside your house. When it is clear that an animal is in danger, action on our part is reasonable. If you do become the caretaker of an animal, be sure you learn enough about that animal’s needs so you can provide the essentials to keep it alive until it can be released back into the wild. And one of the best approaches to take for providing care is for you to “think like an animal” rather than a human. An example of “thinking like an animal” might determine whether to feed a baby bird at night or not! Well, in the wild, an American Robin, for instance, sleeps at night and therefore does NOT feed its young. So...you needn’t feed a baby Robin at night either.
Activities
Science – “Murder” Mystery
Objectives: Learn about some misguided attempts to help animals
Materials: Thinking Cap
I’m sharing some “murder” mysteries that have really happened when well-meaning people became involved with animals without understanding the rescued animal’s requirements. The point here is NOT to dissuade people from helping wildlife, but to caution people to step in only when there isn’t an alternative.
Here are a few actual “Murder” Mysteries that you can try to answer along with the answers. See if you can figure out what went wrong before you read the answer!
Beaver – A camper found an injured Beaver that had a major infection on its leg and took it to a well-meaning veterinarian . The vet took one look at the infected injury and began administering antibiotics to stop the infection. All seemed to go well, the Beaver ate well in captivity and the injury was healing nicely but within about 10 days it was extremely weak and soon died. What happened?
Beavers are unable to digest the tree materials they consume without the help of particular bacteria in their gut. Without these bacteria, the food they eat simply goes through the Beaver’s system undigested. The antibiotics, designed to kill the “bad” bacteria that were infecting the Beaver, also killed all of the “good” bacteria the Beaver needed for life. The Beaver simply starved to death!
Turtles – A nature center had an assortment of interesting turtles from their area that were kept in a nice indoor pool so people could view them throughout the year. As fall and then winter came, the turtles became less and less active in their pool. The area in which they were being kept was not heated very much so the caretaker made a concerted effort to keep the turtles active by putting warm water into their pool each day. As the winter progressed, one after another of the turtles died. What happened? Turtles react to lower temperatures and shorter days in fall by becoming sluggish and slowing down. As the turtles’ internal cues were telling the turtles to become dormant, the warm-water clues of their pool were telling the turtles to stay active. This conflict of environmental cues affected the turtles enough that they simply became unhealthy and died.
Red-winged Blackbird – A Red-winged Blackbird nest was discovered that had been torn apart and all of the young, but one, were gone. The lone baby was brought into someone’s home and carefully fed and monitored. Food was not a problem since this person had a rose garden with an overabundance of Japanese Beetles. At first all went well as the baby greedily consumed beetles but soon the baby began looking weak and eventually died. What happened? Beetles have a great deal of exoskeleton (outer hard covering) that is very difficult for baby birds to digest. Parent birds might feed a few of these beetles to their young but most of their diet would consist of soft-bodied insects. A diet mostly of these abrasive beetles eventually meant the baby wasn’t getting proper nutrition, the exoskeletons in its stomach became a large, immoveable mass and its entire intestinal system was damaged causing its death.
Mallard – A female Mallard was found with an obvious injury to its wing near a frozen farm pond in the middle of winter. The duck was easily captured and brought into a heated garage to recover. All went well, the wing was mending and the bird ate well and seemed to heal well too. After about 3 weeks, the duck was released near the pond where it had been captured. The very next morning, the duck was found dead. What happened?
Originally, the duck had gradually acclimated to cold temperatures in the fall and by winter was quite able to survive the cold weather as long as there was adequate food and water. Once the duck was brought in to a heated area, however, its body readjusted to the warmer temperatures and when thrust back into the cold, was unable to keep itself warm enough to survive that first cold night.
Maybe you and your students have some of their own “murder” mysteries you’d like to share. By putting the puzzle pieces together, you can often understand just what went wrong and learn not to make that mistake again.
Key Concepts
Environmental Issues, Life Cycles
Questions
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Posted by Mark Miller on July 17, 2006 at 11:26 AM
Q: I was pruning a bush by the back of our house and realized that I accidentally cut a branch that was holding a cardinal's nest. There are two babies (fairly recently hatched) in the nest. I placed the branch back best I could and placed some other branches back to help conceal it. Will the adults still come and try to feed the little ones?
A: That could happen to anyone. I think the chances of the adults continuing as though nothing is different, is excellent. Had you moved the nest very far, it might pose a problem but if it's quite close by, I think they'll simply continue feeding and caring for the young. I know your inclination will be to check on the wee ones often but try to keep your observations distant and infrequent. The less you hassle the adults, the better the chances of all going smoothly. Best of luck.
Posted by Patrice Duff on June 09, 2006 at 05:27 PM
Q: A mother and father Cardinal had a nest near our garage, they came every day to feed their babies and one day all of the baabies were gone except 1 small one, the mother and father still kept coming and feeding the 1 baby left. this morning I saw the Father and mother come to feed the baby, when my husband got home he said the baby had died so he buried it. My question is I think he should have left the baby in the nest so as not to upset the parents , also the baby may have still been alive, right? I have read that cardinals grieve and now they do not know what happened. Please advise. Thank you!
Patrice
A: I can't be sure, but I would assume that the absence of the other babies was due to their fledging (leaving the nest to begin life outside the nest even though still being fed by parents). It's very likely that the one left behind was indeed dead - no telling what may have been wrong.
The parents are not going to be upset with the disappearance of their young. When they return to an empty nest, they'll simply redirect their efforts to caring for the other babies. No one knows whether birds grieve or not but most scientists would probably tell you they probably do not. Thanks for asking and I hope this gets your husband "off the hook".
Posted by casey campbell on June 08, 2006 at 11:16 AM
Q: I've heard that if you find a baby bird egg if you put it in water and it floats then its alive and if it sinks then its dead. I was wondering if this was true and is there any other ways by telling if a baby bird is alive or dead in its egg.
A: Actually, it would be the reverse. A typical egg should sink whether it's fertile or not (this doesn't necessarily mean there is an embryo inside though) but if that egg gets bacteria inside things change and it may actually float. As the bacteria grow inside the egg, they produce gases that force some of the water inside to leave. Less water inside the egg and lighter-than-water gases produced can cause an egg to become lighter than water and float. So, an egg that floats is probably "bad" but an egg that sinks may be fertile or may not be - one can't be sure.
Posted by Johanna Knaack on June 02, 2006 at 12:46 PM
Q: we had cardinals nesting in a bush right off our deck, 3 eggs were in the nest, 2 hatched on May 30th, we gave them their privacy once in a while looking to see if third egg hatched. this morning June 2, the nest was empty, besides a predator, what else could have happened? we are heartbroken, tried so hard not to disturb them. thanks.
A: Johanna, I'm sorry to say this but this has predator written all over it. When they all disappear like that it implies a mammal devoured them (i.e. cat, raccoon, gray fox, etc.). The good news is that if the parents survived they'll renest in a new place. When there is a traumatic experience like this they know to nest somewhere else.
Try not to judge the situation as good or bad, but nature taking its course. Good luck to you!
Posted by Kathy Minnie on May 30, 2006 at 12:29 PM
Q: I am raising three mallard ducklings. I want to know when they will learn how to fly.
A: I really can't give you a number of days but you should know well before they can actually do so. I've raised Mallards myself and found that as their wings become stronger and their feathering more "mature", they begin racing around on the water's surface and almost get off the water. When this happens, you can figure that flight is not far away. Give them plenty of space to exercise their wings and when the time is right, they'll fly - parents don't teach them. Hope this helps.
Posted by Jimmy Deuce on May 28, 2006 at 11:50 AM
Q: There is a bird nest in our trash can that has robin eggs in it. But the only bird that goes in or comes out (It has a lid that has been left slightly cracked open for the bird to get in & out) is a black bird. I heard that some birds will foster parent other birds eggs, is this the case?
A: Your bird eggs aren't Robin eggs, they're European Starling eggs! Starlings are hole nesters so sounds like your Starling family chose your garbage can to build its nest in a place a Robin would never choose. Starlings have pale blueish eggs so the color has probably thrown you off. It would be very unusual for a bird to "adopt" another bird's nest/eggs but I suppose it has happened. Thanks for asking.
Posted by Cherise Araujo on May 26, 2006 at 08:16 AM
Q: I just fished a baby bird out of our pool. he's still alive, but seems weak and is not moving. I have placed him in a box with a towel but don't know if there anything else i can do for him. Any info would be appreciated.
Thanks
Cherise
A: Cherise, I hope it's not too late, but if the bird is still alive I would dry it with a blow-drier (keep the temperature low because you can burn its tender skin) and feed it a few small pieces of dried dog/cat food. You can dip the dry food in water, but don't saturate it. If the bird perks up and can stand on its own. Put it back in the vicinity of where you found it. Its chances for survival are so much better if it's parents care for it than a human. It's not well understood, but human raised birds rarely survive on their own for very long in the wild. Contrary to popular beliefe, birds do not abandon their young if a human touches them. Good luck to you.
Posted by David Ostlund on May 13, 2006 at 09:02 AM
Q: A robin and a cardinal both built nests just outside our front door. The cardinal eggs hatched and and the mother was caring for her babies. Three days later the bibies were gone and there was no sign of what happened. Two days after that the robin's eggs hatched and she was caring for her babies. About three days later her babies were gone. I know they were too young to fly. What could have gotten to the baby birds. One nest was in a pine tree about five feet off the ground, and one nest was on a trellis about four feet off the ground. Thanks for your help.
A: There are all kinds of reasons why the young have disappeared but it's most likely predation. Many different birds and mammals prey on baby birds and any one of these could have plucked them out of the nest. Blue Jays, Crows, or hawks are the most likely reasons but Raccoons, Opossums, squirrels, even a skunk or snake may get up in a tree and eat the babies. When this kind of thing happens, it makes you wonder just how animals are able to raise ANY young without predation! Often when a bird loses its young early in the season, they will renest and try again. Let's hope that's what your birds do too. Thanks for asking.
Posted by Martha Perkins on May 01, 2006 at 04:05 PM
Q: Hi,
My five-year-old niece and I have been watching a robin's nest that is located on a fencepost beneath my mailbox. The next is approximately seven inches from the ground.
The eggs have hatched in the last two or three days, and now there're three baby robins in the nest. Even though we live in the country, our road is fairly well-traveled, and I have wondered about moving the nest to a safer location (without touching the fledglings.) Can you advise?
Thanks,
Martha Perkins
Abingdon, VA
A: It's good to see you're eager to help the birds but I'd strongly encourage you not to move the nest. Moving the nest may cause enough stress in the parents for them to abandon their young. Although it is common "knowledge" that touching a nest or baby birds will cause the parents to abandon their young, this is not true. Moving the nest is quite a different story, however.
Your niece has a wonderful opportunity to see the growth of the babies and their fledging so I hope you can all continue to monitor the nest as things progress. Thanks for asking and good luck to you and your birds.