chirpy

"we have a house guest for the next little while, love."

that's what travis' text message said to me earlier today.

"what?  who?"  i texted back, thinking about how the guest room has completely been emptied into the living room and i still have one more coat of painting left in there.

he texts, "his name is chirpy."

and thus the very beginning of our new buddy. when i got home, i walked into the house to see a fluffy little grey dude with a big yellow beak, sitting like a lump on my dining room table in one of our decorative cages that typically holds candles.. not birds.  earlier in the day, travis was on a construction site and saw this little bird all alone, struggling to fly on the ground.  he watched him for awhile and then became worried about the guys laying cement.  let's face it, a lot of people don't care about animals.  so travis finally made the decision to put chirpy in a box and bring him home (i love him).

looking at chirpy, with his beak wide open like he was waiting for me to regurgitate in his mouth (uhm, no thanks), i didn't know what to do.  so i took to google and finally matched him to a photo of a european starling.  ooh, fancy.  and i found out he's a fedg.. fedgling?  a fledgling!  apparently that is a feathered baby that just left the nest.  fledglings can take days, even weeks to get off the ground and actually fly.  in a non-safe environment like a construction site, his best option was to be moved but in most situations, they should be left alone for the mama to take care of. 

after quite a bit of reading + some calling around, we have decided to bring chirpy to elizabeth's wildlife center in abbotsford tomorrow. this evening however, we are attempting to feed chirpy on the hour.

european starlings are not native to here and are quite destructive and kill the population of other birds like blue jays.  so many rescues do not like to rehabilitate these little guys back into the wild.  but apparently they make wonderful pets.  i started you-tubing and am now officially fascinated with starlings.  sigh, it's true.  they are cuddly, friendly, can full out be taught a song, and they even have a small vocabulary range.  but feeding on the hour?  AND they live for 20+ years.  bah.  chirpy, why you gots to be so cute?

ps.  please check out elizabeth's page!  she is a passionate, giving person that needs financial help to continue her great work.

pps.  people, please leave your cats indoors.  not only are you greatly risking your companion's life by letting them roam amongst predators and traffic, but 90% of elizabeth's little birdy and rodent patients are from unnecessary cat attacks.  your outdoor cat is costing elizabeth as well as the lives of some little precious babies like chirpy.  :)