Our weekend was rich with goodness but I'm kind of a bad news first kind of gal. Saturday was going to be busy and we needed to get an early start. Erin was the first one up, eager to be organized (her sister and friend slept in a bit). I was getting my coffee when she called me into the living room. "Mom look at that cute crow just sitting in the middle of the lawn." Hmmm. "Honey, if it's just sitting there, you'd better go check it." Her smile turned to concern as she approached it... and it let her. It was a young crow, not yet a fledgeling. We figured that out by checking the internet and finding this site helpful. It's wing was badly broken and raw. It's parents were in the tree above it kicking up quite a ruckus. We called the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife and the person I talked to assured me that the parents would come feed it on the ground if we left it alone, but the parents wouldn't come down from the tree with so much going on. Soon it became impossible to keep the cat away from it and we knew that shortly our front yard would be full of children. We placed some kennel fencing around the crow and the bush that he was under. Next we called a friend that has much experience in animal training and rehabilitation.
She was out of town but would be back in a few hours. Once back, she would call us out to her place where she would clean and tape the wing and show us how to care for it.
Jodi was so helpful. We left feeling confident that this little guy was going to make it. We were also encouraged knowing that crows are so social and that even if rehab took a couple of weeks, the parents and extended family would be eager to welcome him back into the flock.
Driving home the sky was busy and beautiful... and we were hopeful.
We wanted him to suffer as little stress as possible but we were instructed that it was imperative that we get at least a half of a tablespoon of food in him before we went to bed. His wing was so bad that we had to gently wrap him in a towel to keep him from walking on it and falling over. He ate a bit and we put him back in the box with the cover on.
Within an hour of getting home... he died. It was just so sad. It's probable that he had internal injuries. Bad, bad news indeed.
Blessings, Debbie
