Birds in the hand, and in the bush, seashore, city street. etc etc etc....

Please keep on mind that I am allergic to birds, and that this did not stop me. If you have a kid who is, and still loves birds, it's mild enough to fix, let them have this life......

I've had my hands on Birds from an early age, starting with chicks in Ohio.  You can always take a pill once in awhile if it's not a deadly allergy.  Mine just gave me chronic bronchitis but what the heck...

 So, in no particular order, here is my list of Birds in the Hand.

1. I was 12 or so, and a Juvenile Anna's hummingbird, an exhausted little fledgling, landed just over my head while I was weeding under a bush.  I reached up and plucked it from the branch.  Mother and I fed it for awhile, and then, I'll tell you, I was young enough and bold clueless enough to think I could keep this bird.

On the way to the pet store, I tripped on the lawn, God's Big Foot aided it, I'm sure.  The plastic purse I was transporting the bird in popped open, and ZZZZIIIIIINNNNGGGG went the bird.  He was fully fueled up by that time on sugar water.  My mother was so pleased.... God was pleased, and so was that little bird;  he flew completely away over our heads "saying", in a scolding tone, "Goodbye!  Thanks for all the drinks!"  I was so deflated!

2. Thirteen little Mallard ducklings, raised by me, after their wild mother was killed by a fox.  Well, we lived in a paradise of wildlife.  If you've never a seen three day old mallard duckling, you haven't seen "CUTE" yet.

FROM HERE

This SITE has a whole page about how to care for rescued ducklings.  It would have been handy back in the day, though these little guys can eat plenty well on their own almost as soon as they are hatched.

3. Cooper's Hawk, captured on the street by me and Mr.Z after suffering a "window strike" and taken to Project Wildlife.  I had some pictures somewhere but mostly the images are sharpest in my head.  Thrilling experience.

4. English Tumbler pigeons, my much adored pets.  I am agast that they are now so expensive!

FROM THIS EXCELLENT PAGE

Pigeons of my older English breed may not exist exist anymore, but this pigeon comes the closest to them in size, stance, and feathering patterns on the body, head, and feet.

5.Racing Pigeons, my pets, but really they were almost completely wild.  However, because of the hawks and owls,  they always came in to roost with the Tumblers and the parent's Rock doves.

From  HERE

Rock doves.. Well, my parents raised an Enormous breed of pideon to eat the babies.  Yuck!
And HERE's an informative, and funny, page that I found which you can read if you have the stomach for it.  I do not, blecht...but it's well written by an amazing person.  My hat is off to them.

6. My Peace Doves, white ring necked doves, my pets, both adults and nestlings

From HERE  Link goes to Hoobly classified site

7. Bantam chicks,
I can't find the breed of chicken that my bantams were from.  Mostly they somewhat resembled the Mexican bantam

Any way, back to the chicks...  They were from my hen's brood of chicks after she died on the nest.  You have to keep an eye on these little hens; they are so protective of their brood that they will sometimes never come off the nest unless forced to.  I was too young to know this, and mother didn't know it either.  Bantams chickens were not what she had ever had on the farm in Ohio.

They are great, brave little watch chickens.  HERE is a page dedicated to a discussion of an indigenous chicken ancestor, from which the Araucana  chicken was domesticated by the Mapooche People of South America.  That page also talks about honey bees and various other farming practices of the Native Americans.  Great page!

8. Western Wren, brought to me alive by a neighbor but gravely injured. Sadly, he/she died on the way.

9. House finch (hand raised by me) for Project wildlife.  He was starting to learn his little song when it was time to take him to the big flight cage of another Project Wildlife volunteer to get his flight muscles up to snuff.

Cornell Bird ID page...

10. Fledged Western Gull, injured and captured for Project Wildlife, along the Rip Rap on Shelter Island.  He was too young to be out of his parent's care but they were no where to be found.

11. Adult California Gull.  I caught it, with the herding help of another concerned party.  I had to cut away about a whole REEL full of plastic fishing line from it's poor body.  We were so happy to release it unharmed.

12. Red-necked Phalarope, an injured adult female, caught when it fell out of the sky onto a roof that a roofer was working on, and which he promptly brought home to his wife.  She called Project Wildlife and they referred her to me.  I collected it and took it to recuperate in La Jolla where the care taker re-released it.

13. Brown Pelican, injured adult. I have my own picture of it, surprise!  It had gotten a fish hook imbedded in his wing and that kept him grounded.  It was beyond my capabilities so, thanks to cell phones, and the marvelous people from Wildlife Rescue, and those who work for Seaworld  (and really the only good thing about the place that I can endorse) who came and got him.  That bird was BIG!  You may be able to see the hook in the top of his wing...

Wow, I'm wheezing just remembering all of this! hahaha  It's a manic day, I can tell...