Hello everyone,
One question please. I went for a walk in the woods and saw a hooded crow attacking a baby thrush, It seemed as if it would eat it.
I ran and scared the hooded crow but I could not leave the baby thrush alone as I thought she would be eaten by the other many hooded crows.
I rang a vet and he suggested feeding the ba y thrush with cat food due to the fat and protein present and to give the baby thrush water using a dropper.
So far I managed feeding the baby thrush. My question is do one need to feed them through the night as well?
How long should I keep the baby thrush with me before releasing it back to the wild? I would be afraid of releasing it when it is still defenseless.
I do look forward from hearing your advise and many thanks for taking the time to read my post.
Hi Gabriela, I'm not an expert but as it is very late and you may not get a response from a more knowledgeable member tonight, therefore I would suggest not overfeeding this young thrush if you have given it some cat food and water droplets a few times; I would let it rest somewhere quiet and then early morning I would check on it again and if it survives the night then begin to give it a little more moistened cat food but ensure it is producing droppings after a feed. Because this young bird was attacked it may have other injuries, not always seen so if it survives till morning I would contact your nearest wildlife help although because we are still in a pandemic situation it may be difficult to find someone to take on the bird and most rescue places are closed at the moment and not accepting animals. HERE IS A LINK where you fill in details like, species: Garden Bird, fledgling thrush..... and if you enter your location it should give you a list of local help that you can try and contact. Failing that you should take it to the nearest vet; most vets do not charge for wildlife but at the very least they can give you more advice.
For future reference, as sad as it sounds, you are always better to let nature take its course as in the natural world the Hooded Crow was most likely taking this young thrush to feed its own chicks as the crows are part of the Corvid family (crows, rooks, magpies, jays, jackdaws, etc, ) and they will take young birds as prey. I know you were saving this bird as it is human instinct to intervene but sometimes by doing that a bird can suffer longer once it has been attacked and in shock. Your heart was in the right place but the general advice is to leave situations like this to nature and let it take its course, however harsh that sounds.