This is B# (be sharp) eating and drinking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeYxR9YZ6G4
I am neither an expert nor a vet, but merely share hands on experience.
ONLY use a glass eye dropper, as seen in the video. Some chemists stock them, cost about $5.
A very young fledgling only needs a honey water mixed to drink from the glass eye dropper. Do NOT insert the eye dropper into the mouth. The bird will lap the end o the eye dropper with its long nectar eating tongue.
When the fledgling is a few days older, as B# is in the video, feeding small balls of food is good.
Comments, questions and suggestions welcomed.
Noisy Miner, Manorina melanocephala.
B# is very well. As the sun was setting B# was on a perch looking outside and got rather agitated, wanting to leave. So I decided tomorrow morning to let B# climb the nearest tree and go home as it were.
B#'s personality changed this evening, from being rather quiet to being hyper. B# can fly a good 2 meters now and that should be enough to get by. Also B# will get a hearty meal before release.
I will video tape B# returning to nature tomorrow morning.
I fed B# well this morning and then placed B# on a small branch outside. That was about three hours ago. B# is on a large pine like tree about five meters from me and is constantly being fed by fellow noisy miners.
The release went well, I video taped heaps, but am considering putting this on youtube as the actual release is that of a few seconds... lifts bird onto branch, then steps back.
Anyway, I am very happy for B#, the weather forecast is good for the next few days. B# is close enough to fly in if he/she so chooses.
B# has a family of a few birds and they have been very welcoming back. I am unsure what they make of me, not sure, but not a threat per se, more very stunned and curious that a human was looking after one of their own.
Without the past seven day intervention, there is no doubt B# would not have survived.
B# knows to fly a good two meters horizontally, is good with branch hopping, can drink from a tap and also an egg cup of water. B# was constantly fed to full for seven days so is probably one of the best fed birds around.
Cheers.
B# release video :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1fGcD47WzQ
Update: Well it has been a week since I released B# (be sharp) back into nature (I use that term loosely seeing I live only a few kilometres from the Melbourne CBD).
Anyway I hear B# on one or other of the trees. There are two Noisy Miner fledglings near, and the closer I believe to be B#. I live opposite a park - NEVER live opposite a park!!! lol
Last Monday B# was released back to nature and all was good, but for the past week the weather has been a shocker. Rain, wind and cold.
B# was really thrown into the deep end, but entered having been fully fed for the previous seven days, knowing to fly horizontally a good two meters, knowing how to branch hop and fly, knowing how to drink from a running tap and stationary water.
B# communicated a number of ways, which I found interesting. There was the "feed me NOW" chirp, and this got progressively more frequent and louder over a short time. There was the excited "feed ME!!!" as food was in sight approaching the beak. There was the "I am full" chirp. There was a "I am full - content - happy" chirp and there was a "thank you" chirp which sounded similar to the previous two mentioned.
Once B# fell from the perch while scratching and I caught B# (a drop of about 15-20cm) and B# gave a series of "thank you - happy" chirps.
Other times B# would mouth "feed me", open its beak but no sound, when we were making eye contact.
Bird intelligence is interesting.
I think over the coming weeks, I will be able to recognize B# as it would be the miner that won't be afraid of me and may even fly to me, as it did several times when I was teaching it to fly.
The time taken to raise a chick properly is intense.
Let the birds fly free and give me a dog for a pet any day! lol
Hi, this is "MynaBirds". I have a new username "FlyBeFree" (for all those that remember Mork!).
Hopefully the avatar will work this time.
My avatar is B# (be sharp), a Noisy Miner I rescued and released. :)
I'm new to this forum and just read two pages about your little feathered friend. Absolutely amazing!! The world would be a better place, if there were more people like you!
Thank you for your kind words Kimbolina. :D
My avatar is B# (be sharp), a Noisy Miner I rescued and released. :)