Mother Bird May 5, 2010

Yesterday Rachel discovered 2 baby sparrows that had fallen out of their nest right by our porch.  It surprised me that the fall didn’t kill them, and though I tried to gently dissuade her, she insists on mothering them.  She has them in a box lined with toilet paper.  She has already shed many tears over them, concerned they are cold or hungry or Coco will get them or want light so they aren’t scared…

Bless her, those babies are so ugly.  Nearly bald and flailing around with a little gray fuzz and the biggest mouths I’ve ever seen.  It’s like they have grown-up beaks they have to grow into.  She has been digging up worms for them and trying to put the pieces down their throats.  The parent birds (swallows I think) have been flying around nearby but have yet to come to the box she has them in.  I helped her look up info on them and it says they are “aerial insectivores.”  She’s having a hard enough time digging up enough worms (forget catching flies!) and the fact that they open their mouths and cry every time she comes near is causing her anxiety.