I heard a bunch of wing flapping outside my gate and saw a Kookaburra bashing a baby Brush Turkey against a rock. I thought the poor thing was dead but it's still hanging on. They can't move their neck or feet, they keep closing their eyes and can very slightly move their wings. I've given them little bits of water on their beak with a syringe and they seemed quite thirsty. We can't make it to a centre until tomorrow afternoon and the rescue people will take a while tomorrow. What should I do?
Thank you for your concern for this bird, king. While it may seem cruel could I suggest you avoid intervening in incidents like this. Put simply, Kookaburras need to eat & I assume the young Brush Turkey was a meal for the Kookaburra. What you observed would seem to be part of a natural ecological process.
Many of we humans become overwhelmed with grief when we see events like this & we're very quick to put on our rescuer hats. However, if we're really serious about protecting young Brush-turkeys we'll do whatever we can to protect & restore their habitats.
In the meantime & now that the young Brush-turkey is no longer a meal for the Kookaburra it seems to me that you're doing everything you can to help it survive. Perhaps another Birds in Backyarder with far more expertise than I have in bird rescue will be able to provide other advice.
I realised that the kookaburra was trying to feed themself however when I looked over my gate to check out the unusual sound of frantic flapping I startled the kookaburra with my presence and he flew far away. I’m now just unsure of how to feed this baby bird in the meantime.
Hi again, king. The fact that the youngster is taking water from your syringe suggests that this is a good approach. It also wonder if it would help to you offer it some mashed-up natural food from the bush litter in your area. However, as I said, I'm no expert on bird rescues so I'm hoping another Birds in Backyarder will respond with advice on how to keep the Brush-turkey alive at least until you can get to the rescue centre this afternoon.