My most challenging rescue yet

ZEROPILOT

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I still have a Red Eared Slider that I wrestled from a sea gull and a cat a few months ago. He is doing great. Eating great. But will not grow.
I need him to be large enough to maybe have a greater chance of survival before I release him or place him in my outdoor pond. But his wounds have healed.
Today, I was putting around in my golf cart at work when I heard a horrible noise and turned to see a gray bird being pecked to death by two larger black birds.
The gray bird was running and screaming and the black birds kept jumping on his back and pecking his head.
I got them apart and placed the gray bird in a clean box so that he could die in peace.
At lunch time I gave him a good look. He had some blood on his head and is missing an eye. But was up and walking around.
A Google search identified it as a baby TERN. A seabird that dive bombs guppies and shrimp from above.
I bought it home and he has a CHE overhead that he seems to like. I also placed some water and cut shrimp and silversides on a plate.
He won't eat from my hand. He runs from it.
Should I get some very long tongs?
This seems like a hopeless situation.
I've grown seed eating and insect eating orphan birds in the past from baby to adults that flew away and it's very rewarding.
But a seabird? I can't even pretend to know what I'm doing. Every other bird would eat from an eye dropper, etc.
This guy won't have any of it.

20170605_080243-1.jpg
 

wellington

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Can you get any love food that he eats and put it in a bowl?
I would try tongs too.
Otherwise find a wildlife rescue to take over for you.
Good luck and keep us updated
 

Greta16

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When my kids are out of the house in a few years I'm going to be a wildlife rehabilitator, specializing in birds. That being said, I don't know much about sea birds. I would put some food in the box with it and Google wildlife Rehabilitators in your area. Good luck!
 

Greta16

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Without an eye the baby definitely can't go back out into the wild, being a juvenile. Poor guy. I love birds. Birding has been a hobby of mine for the last 20 or so years. Wish I could be more help.
 

ZEROPILOT

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He has not eaten. But he pooped. So he did eat recently.
I'll look for a rehabber tomorrow.
I wonder if he could ever fly without stereo vision.
He is chirping. Likely trying to call his mom.
 

Big Charlie

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He has not eaten. But he pooped. So he did eat recently.
I'll look for a rehabber tomorrow.
I wonder if he could ever fly without stereo vision.
He is chirping. Likely trying to call his mom.
Poor baby. I don't think birds that have eyes on each side of their head have stereo vision. I don't have stereo vision either; both eyes work but my brain only reads one at a time, and I can drive and play baseball, pretty much every thing, but I've never tried to get a pilot's license, so maybe not that.

Maybe you have to chew up the food and spit it down his throat, like his mother would! Maybe mash it up and put into a dropper.

The wildlife rescues in California told me I was violating the law if I tried to rehab a wild animal by myself. However, they expected me to drive 150 miles to the nearest rescue location to deliver the animals I saved. I guess they thought it was better to let the animal die than let an inexperienced person at least try to save them.
 

ZEROPILOT

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I'm sure the natural thing to do was to let it die, and maybe he still will.
But not before I try to help.
I have a long eye dropper and I'm going to grind up some shrimp and fish into a mush and offer it to him.
In this rediculous state, it's illegal to grab a Gopher tortoise off of the highway and release it in the grass. But you can pay a fee and build a parking lot on top of a whole, live colony of them
 

ZEROPILOT

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lisa127

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Poor little guy. What a big heart you have! Good luck to you and him!
 

Cowboy_Ken

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You can find many very long, stainless-steel tweezers on eBay, used for bonsai care. I've bought most of mine that way. I'll look up a link for you, I felt though it would be best to give you the filtering options I use so that you could do the search yourself.
The ends of these tweezers are patterned making it very easy to maintain a hold on any item grasped. Well that was easy, found almost cheap one right away…I'm hoping this works for you, it's a cut and past that I "shared" with myself then took that copy and now I'm "pasting" it here, hmmm

Look at this on eBay
Bonsai Tools JTT-02 Bonsai Tweezers Stainless Steel Rake Robust Good Quality



Cowboy Ken
 

Cowboy_Ken

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Ok, it didn't work. Here is the item number and if you put that in an eBay search engine it should take you to them

252089811943

Again I'll try myself and see if it works. I just tried the "copy and paste" method with the number and it works fine. The only drawback will be shipping time. This comes with free shipping so maybe contact them and ask about upcharging you for overnight. Good luck with your orphan.

Cowboy Ken
 

MichaelaW

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Good luck! Hope he pulls through. Have you tried some bird vitamins or electrolytes? I used them on a dying chick with incredible results.
 

ZEROPILOT

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At last nights feeding he was pretty lethargic.
This morning he just wanted to "sleep" so I left him in peace.
I'm expecting him to be dead when I go over at lunch time to feed him again.
 

MichaelaW

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Kudos to you for caring about the little guy. Sorry to hear he didn't pull through. You did the best you could.
 
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Yvonne G

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I'm sorry to hear that. Rehabbing baby birds is pretty difficult.
 
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