Poor birdies :(

Let's see...it's rather late, so I'm going to make this as succinct as I can bring myself to be. Buuut I also want to write it down so I don't forget.

Yesterday after my entry, we went shopping in Auburn. This is normally something that is very fun, but because Tanner was along being annoying and spoiled and Ryan was being angsty and mean because Mom wouldn't buy him everything he wanted, much of the fun was taken away. :/ We went to Ross, where I bought four bird baskets with handles, cuddled a pillow that shed all over me (XD;), got a nice bird dish, and petted blankets obsessively. Then we went to Pak'n'Save, where I got a wrap and then we went shopping. I went all nuts buying fruit and miso soup. Then we went to Target for a little while, saw the Naruto game for sale (we're going to have to buy that soon), and also there were the cyuuutest Pokémon plushies that I wanted so sooo badly but didn't have the money for. ^^; Then we went home.

I went with Mom to the stables last night to see the baby horses. Aw, they're so cute! The little filly came up and let me pet her, but the colt (who is only a week old, by the way) was a little more scared and kept hiding behind his mommy. I said hello to Rivi, petted some barn cats, and saw a HUGE shooting star.

Today I got up and did animal chores for a while, and then Jacqui and Chip picked me up at 2 PM, on schedule. We went down to Becky's and screened cages for most of the day (which was fun, but hard work). I also was introduced to my chickadees. There were three of them when we got there, but the littlest one was aspirated the night before and really not doing so well. The actual screening process is not interesting to describe, so I'll skip it. Becky also had a swallow and blackbird at her house, though, along with this hilarious little Siamese kitten. He was so funny and adorable. And OMG are the chickadees cute! I'll have to post a picture of them. They're about...um...they could sit on a silver dollar. Very cute and fluffy.

At five, I got a ride home from this older lady who Jacqui and Becky both know. She was nice, though she spent the entire ride back telling me about how much depressing stuff is going on in her life right now. ^^; I listened and did my best to relate, though. Not long after we took off, the sick chickadee died quietly. Poor thing. The other two are loud and silly and energetic, though, so I'm not worried about them.

Beverly gave me a ride to Mom's, where I called and had Dad pick me up. Right before he came, I got a call saying a lady at the Raptor Center had a baby bird for me, so I arranged to have the lady drive it to Dad's.

I'm not sure what it was, but it was a little yellow-and-brown nestling. I noticed right away he wasn't responding much, so I was worried about him. I looked at his belly, which was horribly wrinkled (indicating severe dehydration), and concluded I needed to get him hydrated as soon as possible. I started out dripping water on to his beak (and squeezing his beak to get him to swallow it because he wouldn't open his mouth), but soon decided that wasn't good enough and took out the lactated ringer solution. It took me a while to warm it up and get it into the syringe through the teeny-tiny needles I use, and my first plan of injecting it on the tiny patch of skin I need to get it in (it's about a 1mm flap of skin on the back of their legs) was to flip him on his back.

This caused some sort of adverse affect, though, because I only turned him over for a second when he started doing this weird thing where he stiffed up with his head back against his back, wings flapping, and looking extremely uncomfortable. I got really worried that he had a spinal injury or neurological damage that I was just then seeing the symptoms for, but I continued with the lactated ringer solution nonetheless. I was so proud of myself for getting it in successfully and injecting it. I had done it on a dead pigeon, but never on a live bird (much less a little tiny one). I put him in a nest on a heating pad (he was terribly cold, even when I held him and tried to get him warm) and waited a half-hour, then tried hydrating him again. Once I finished that, I thought I should give him a tiny amount of food before going to bed just to make sure he didn't starve.

It was weird, because he made only one peep the whole time I had him, and he seized up like I described before a few more times. When I was feeding him, he started shaking oddly again, opened his eyes, and just...went totally limp. Dead.

Oh well. I figure...even though I couldn't save him, I tried my hardest to and got a lot of great experience while trying to help him. I might see about finding out what species he was and maybe how he died tomorrow.

Oh, I have work to do tomorrow! The chickadees are coming with me. XD; I'm going to Mom's friend Maryanne's house to help her with eBay stuff ($15 an hour :D) for most of the day, so that should be fun. I'm also hoping to get in some more birds, so I might need to make arrangements for people to keep birds for me while I'm working so I can get them when I get back.

I'd better get to bed... I'm probably keeping the chickadees up with my typing.

Well, my first two bird deaths in my rehab experience so far. They weren't so bad, though--I know the deaths are bound to happen no matter how hard you try to save them. Both of these birds had a lot of problems and were beyond saving. I hope they rest in peace, though.

Poor birdies :(

Let's see...it's rather late, so I'm going to make this as succinct as I can bring myself to be. Buuut I also want to write it down so I don't forget.

Yesterday after my entry, we went shopping in Auburn. This is normally something that is very fun, but because Tanner was along being annoying and spoiled and Ryan was being angsty and mean because Mom wouldn't buy him everything he wanted, much of the fun was taken away. :/ We went to Ross, where I bought four bird baskets with handles, cuddled a pillow that shed all over me (XD;), got a nice bird dish, and petted blankets obsessively. Then we went to Pak'n'Save, where I got a wrap and then we went shopping. I went all nuts buying fruit and miso soup. Then we went to Target for a little while, saw the Naruto game for sale (we're going to have to buy that soon), and also there were the cyuuutest Pokémon plushies that I wanted so sooo badly but didn't have the money for. ^^; Then we went home.

I went with Mom to the stables last night to see the baby horses. Aw, they're so cute! The little filly came up and let me pet her, but the colt (who is only a week old, by the way) was a little more scared and kept hiding behind his mommy. I said hello to Rivi, petted some barn cats, and saw a HUGE shooting star.

Today I got up and did animal chores for a while, and then Jacqui and Chip picked me up at 2 PM, on schedule. We went down to Becky's and screened cages for most of the day (which was fun, but hard work). I also was introduced to my chickadees. There were three of them when we got there, but the littlest one was aspirated the night before and really not doing so well. The actual screening process is not interesting to describe, so I'll skip it. Becky also had a swallow and blackbird at her house, though, along with this hilarious little Siamese kitten. He was so funny and adorable. And OMG are the chickadees cute! I'll have to post a picture of them. They're about...um...they could sit on a silver dollar. Very cute and fluffy.

At five, I got a ride home from this older lady who Jacqui and Becky both know. She was nice, though she spent the entire ride back telling me about how much depressing stuff is going on in her life right now. ^^; I listened and did my best to relate, though. Not long after we took off, the sick chickadee died quietly. Poor thing. The other two are loud and silly and energetic, though, so I'm not worried about them.

Beverly gave me a ride to Mom's, where I called and had Dad pick me up. Right before he came, I got a call saying a lady at the Raptor Center had a baby bird for me, so I arranged to have the lady drive it to Dad's.

I'm not sure what it was, but it was a little yellow-and-brown nestling. I noticed right away he wasn't responding much, so I was worried about him. I looked at his belly, which was horribly wrinkled (indicating severe dehydration), and concluded I needed to get him hydrated as soon as possible. I started out dripping water on to his beak (and squeezing his beak to get him to swallow it because he wouldn't open his mouth), but soon decided that wasn't good enough and took out the lactated ringer solution. It took me a while to warm it up and get it into the syringe through the teeny-tiny needles I use, and my first plan of injecting it on the tiny patch of skin I need to get it in (it's about a 1mm flap of skin on the back of their legs) was to flip him on his back.

This caused some sort of adverse affect, though, because I only turned him over for a second when he started doing this weird thing where he stiffed up with his head back against his back, wings flapping, and looking extremely uncomfortable. I got really worried that he had a spinal injury or neurological damage that I was just then seeing the symptoms for, but I continued with the lactated ringer solution nonetheless. I was so proud of myself for getting it in successfully and injecting it. I had done it on a dead pigeon, but never on a live bird (much less a little tiny one). I put him in a nest on a heating pad (he was terribly cold, even when I held him and tried to get him warm) and waited a half-hour, then tried hydrating him again. Once I finished that, I thought I should give him a tiny amount of food before going to bed just to make sure he didn't starve.

It was weird, because he made only one peep the whole time I had him, and he seized up like I described before a few more times. When I was feeding him, he started shaking oddly again, opened his eyes, and just...went totally limp. Dead.

Oh well. I figure...even though I couldn't save him, I tried my hardest to and got a lot of great experience while trying to help him. I might see about finding out what species he was and maybe how he died tomorrow.

Oh, I have work to do tomorrow! The chickadees are coming with me. XD; I'm going to Mom's friend Maryanne's house to help her with eBay stuff ($15 an hour :D) for most of the day, so that should be fun. I'm also hoping to get in some more birds, so I might need to make arrangements for people to keep birds for me while I'm working so I can get them when I get back.

I'd better get to bed... I'm probably keeping the chickadees up with my typing.

Well, my first two bird deaths in my rehab experience so far. They weren't so bad, though--I know the deaths are bound to happen no matter how hard you try to save them. Both of these birds had a lot of problems and were beyond saving. I hope they rest in peace, though.