Last night Tammy was working in her office and heard a bird in the entryway. This time it was a tiny sparrow fledgling. It easily fit in the palm of my hand when I picked it up. (Tammy isn’t comfortable handling wild birds.) The blackbird fledgling we removed earlier in the summer was larger and quite lively. It willingly gobbled down bits of Atticus’ Fromm’s Small Breed kibble. This little sparrow didn’t seem interested in feeding. Discovered that it was unable to use its right foot, but it was able to move around with the assistance of its wings. The foot itself looked OK but saw what appeared to be a healing injury on its right thigh. It was also missing some feathers on the top of its head.
I brought it inside and put it in a small box with a soft cloth for bedding, then covered the box with a dark cloth so it would have a quiet, snug place to stay until morning.
We have a lively flock of sparrows here. Their chirps are often the first sounds I hear in the morning. When I heard them outside around 7 am, I checked the little sparrow, which was still alive and had a couple droppings in the box, so looks like it wasn’t starving. It looked more alert and greeted me with chirps. I put the box on its side outdoors in a fairly open area and watched. Within minutes sparrows noticed it and gathered, even perched on the top of the box. I saw a couple adults going in and out of the box, hopefully feeding the little one. One also seemed to be trying to coax it out.
I then moved the box to a more protected area near where the sparrows like to perch — between a large arbor vitae and a light pole with a convenient wire. For the past few hours there has never been a time that I didn’t see at least one sparrow keeping watch. When I checked a few minutes ago, the fledgling was not in the box but the other sparrows are still around.
So, looks like the little sparrow has its own kind to care for it. I hope that it continues to heal and can adapt to perching with one leg and be able join its flock in flight.
Update: 30 Aug 2017 8 am
Yesterday afternoon when I returned from my class at the YMCA and running errands, decided to bring in the box after I unloaded the car. It was occupied! When I went out later it was empty again, then again and saw little sparrow on the ground near the tree. So I am leaving the box out for the little sparrow to use as needed.
