This year’s sparrow rescue is going well. Girliebird and Babycheep are all on their own now and no longer come when we call. They have become part of the wild flock that lives on the farm.
Cheebeep able to fly around the house despite her injured tail.
Cheebeep, our next rescue sparrow is also doing very well. She is still indoors living with us, but that’s really just because we haven’t released her. Her tail feathers mostly filled in where she was injured, so she is well able to fly. She’s molting now and we expect her next set of feathers to be perfect. So, she will also be able to join the wild flock outside.
Peep the day I found her.
Next came Peep who was very small when I found her, but I had no idea just how small until I found Heap a few days later and put the two side-by-side. Though they are no more than three days apart in age, Heap is clearly much larger than Peep. Here’s where the mystery comes in.
Peep (top) and Heap (bottom). You can see the difference in size between the two of them. Peep is so much smaller even though they are likely only a day apart in age.
Though the two of them have been on the same diet which includes bird vitamins, Heap has grown up healthy and strong, whereas Peep has some serious deficiencies. Heap is now flying around and learning to be independent, but Peep’s feathers are just atrocious. She also has the same crippled feet that Cheeboop suffers with.
Heap (top) and Peep (bottom). You can see Peep's deformed feathers and crippled foot.
We’ve seen mild versions of this where the feet may be just slightly crooked, but straighten out once the bird begins perching. Sometimes there is a lighter colour in the feathers, or the feathers aren’t quite perfect, like in the case of Rumplepuff, but this is the worst case we’ve seen yet. You can see that the feathers on the lead edge of her wings are so poorly formed that they don’t even cover her skin and her wing feathers are almost completely white.
I am at a loss as to what’s causing this problem. Most of the sparrows I rescue end up perfect, a few are a little off, and so far only two have had permanent defects. I suspected diet, but have modified that to better simulate what the sparrows naturally eat. Actually, these indoor sparrows eat better than the wild ones. And here I have two sparrows of the same age raised on the same diet with Heap turning out perfect and Peep severely crippled.
Since I plan to continue rescuing sparrows, I’m going to try to contact an ornithologist for information.
In the meantime, Peep will become a permanent resident and we hope that when she molts this fall, her new feathers will be perfect allowing her to fly at last.
