LEAVE YOUNG BIRDS BE!!


Please, do not hamper a young bird's life by picking it up, and taking it home with you. It is calling its parents to help them in locating it.
After fledgling from the nest, the parent birds will keep feeding it, and look out for it, until it will be able to look after itself.
And the reason you cannot see a parent is because of your own proxomity to the young bird. And while you are ebating if or not you should take the bird home, you keep the parent from giving it well needed nutrition in the form of a meal!


Photos

The photos on this blog are all taken by me. If there is any picture you might want to use for any other than personal use, please drop me a line to the email address shown in the sidebar on the right.

Saturday, March 6, 2010

Could featherloss be stress related?

Blue Tit, Parus caeruleus.
To make it clear to me that the suet 'shells are empty, one of my Blue Tits started scraping all the last bitds out.
Or would she be thinking of sailing? I am just hoping that the "worn" feathers above her right eye are not a sign of feather loss.

We have seen several birds go through a stage where they would start loosing feathers around the eye and then receding to the forehead. In the Jackdaws it was part of a disease which is restricted to that specie.
In 2008 however, I had a Robin which was starting to go bald. Again, it was early spring. At a certain moment, once the head had lost most of the feathers, it just disappeared.
It could very well be that it got the feathers back after an early moult. Not wanting to wait to autumn when most birds take time of after a stressful breeding time, and then just appeared as 'normal' Robin again.
And I can best well understand a bird as small as a Blue Tit, being stressed out after the harsh winter they've just had.
On the other hand, it could be more serious than stress. I will keep an eye on my Blue Tit. Problem is, I keep taking photos of the Blue Tits in my garden, but I can't seem to find it in my photos.

Anyway, here's some pictures of the Robin. It appeared on 8 March 2008:




Back to the garden in March 2010:

A cosy meeting between male and female, pity it is not the same specie.

male Chaffinch, Fringilla coelebs
female House Sparrow. Passer domesticus



The Great, Parus major, and Blue Tit, P. caeruleus, also take time out to feed instead of fight.


And yes, my Collared Doves,Streptopelia decaocto, are reunited again! And as you can see, one of them is even giving us a "wink", telling us that it is OK again between them. I'm really happy about this because these are the only Doves around here. As far as I know.




Rook, Corvus frugilegus


And last but not least as it has an enormous voice!
Pied Wagtail, Motacilla alba.

6 comments:

  1. Hi Yoke, you have changed your logo, and its really nice.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks, Bob.

    i am glad that you like it.

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  3. Glad the other dove is back - must have been nice for you!
    The picture of the bald robin is freaky!
    Are you sure it was the same robin which came back with feathers re-grown?
    If so that's great - but maybe it was a different robin?

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  4. Hi Siobhan.
    I think you misread it; I only said that it might have returned with feathers regrown. However, getting back to what I said about birds and their idea about weak, weakened or sick birds, I very much doubt I ever saw it again.

    Add to that all the way how Robins kill each other in their battle for territory/female, etc. I think that I am afraid that Robin is no more.

    Besides, it is very l;ikely that the poor Robin was suffering from more than stress.

    Yes, those pictures are freaky. Mind you, the Robin itself was even worse to look at.
    I hope they didn't upest you, Siobhan?

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  5. Oh no, they didn't upset me - thanks for being thoughtful though. No, I like to see the birds in all their various appearances!

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  6. Glad to know the kind of photos you like for further blog posts!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting Birding on Wheels; All comments left here, will be appreciated and I will answer as soon as possible to your comments.
Yoke.