Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Little Bug's story... so far



Last month I was asked to make a website for The Eastern Bluebird Rescue Group, an organization started by our local wildlife guru, Frank Newell.


I decided that the first thing I needed was a photo for the logo, so I took my camera down to the lake & took a bunch of photos of our bluebirds who were happily raising their first clutch of the season in their "Frank Newell birdhouse". For the logo, I decided to use the following photo of the female poking her head out of the nest box. She is Little Bug's mom.


female bluebird in Frank Newell birdhouse


She and her mate finished raising their 3 babies and when the babies became a little more independent, she left Daddy to take care of them & she went back to the nest to start their second clutch. She laid 3 eggs & on Saturday June 23rd, 2 of them had hatched. Two days later my husband noticed that there was no activity around the box, so we took a peek inside that evening. We found one dead baby, one hungry & cold baby (Little Bug) and no sign of the third egg or baby. Daddy & at least 2 of the babies from the first clutch are still around, but no Mommy.


We brought Little Bug in, warmed him, fed him and left a messages with both of the bird rehabbers in our county - Frank & his daughter, Kristye. When Kristye called me back, I asked her if she knew of a bluebird nest around with newly hatched babies that we could drop Little Bug into. She said that she would check all of hers and get back to me. I told her I would try to keep him alive until we found a "foster home". When she called me back the next day, she told me that none of her pairs had started their second clutches yet, so she didn't have a home for him, but she would keep looking.


Here's Little Bug when we first took him in...


baby bluebird 2 days old


And I kept feeding. Here he is 7 days later...


baby bluebird 9 days old


Things haven't gone smoothly - he won't open his mouth to beg, which seems really strange. I've had to force his beak open for almost every feeding. From the photos I've searched on the web, he seems a little small for a 9 day old bluebird, but I'll just keep pumping the food into him & hope for the best.


3 comments:

Mary said...

Susan, I wish the best for Little Bug. You have a good heart.

dguzman said...

Oh my gosh, I love Little Bug! All my good thoughts are with him and you.

Have you been tagged by the eight random facts meme yet? If not, you have now! Just see my blog for rules....

LauraHinNJ said...

Susan -

Maybe contact Julie Z. for some pointers?

Hope Little Bug does okay.