# Forgive my Ignorance, please.



## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Hellow Forum !

I posted a thread titled "Jacobin Cockatoo Chick" some days ago. So many of my well wishing friends gave me precious advices which was really really helpful for us.  Thank you all one again.

U know what, the chick I thought is a Jacobin Cuckoo....is actually a chick of a Tree Swallow !! These birds are wrongly interpreted in my country (people here call them "CHATAK", which a mythological bird, of whose is described in the Hindu Mythologies)  

I searched the web for Chatak and found Jacobin Cuckoo....but I doubted and searched again......and found the right chick images along with details and found 100% similarity with our chick. Today is the 5th day of the chick with us and he is going very very well, he eats 5 times a day, and when his stomach is full, he spends the time sleeping.

I request everyone to please pray for him and Please Forgive my Ignorance which drove me to give you wrong information 

Ohh....one more thing....You would be amazed to know that, the chick never poops on his bed (made of straw, cotton, wool and cotton fabric with a topping of a woolen cloth). When he feels like pooping, he just goes out and poops outside then comes back to his bed. It is quite an interesting scene and I haven't seen any bird doing like this before.

Thanks for reading.
Regards.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

That is most likely a wild bird trait as they don't want predators to know there's a nest there.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

I hope your little guy is doing well!


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## jeme (Jan 19, 2010)

Great to hear the little guy is doing so well!


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Thanks everyone.....his mom has cancelled all of her schedules for the next 30 days as she's taking care of her new child as well as the old one (Precious) very very seriously 
I just called her 5 minutes ago, she said she's just fed the little one, and seeing the little one eating, Precious (our Cinnamon Pied Cockatiel son) ate at the same time  It seems he's accepted the swallow as his li'l brother


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## geenz (Apr 4, 2011)

Glad the little guy is doing well!


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## Puppydog (Oct 13, 2011)

I hope you are keeping them separately! You MUST follow strict quarantine procedure here. You don't know what a wild bird is carrying.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Puppydog said:


> I hope you are keeping them separately! You MUST follow strict quarantine procedure here. You don't know what a wild bird is carrying.


This is such a good point, especially since you don't know why it was rejected from the nest in the first place. :/


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Yes, Definitely 
I know he's a wild bird and I've been keeping him in a separate cage. Even I haven't taken his cage in front of my 'tiel's cage  If I have to place two cages together, I maintain at least 3 feet distance and I've never put the little one in Precious' cage. Both of them have their own separate cages, food & water bowls and separate blankets also


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

.....& when I handle the little one, I wash my hands very well with soap before handling my dear Precious 
I also do it while feeding precious.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

You're supposed to keep them in separate rooms, or preferably, separate houses. A 3 feet distance between cages still exposes your Precious to disease that are transmitted through air. It's too late now..they've already been exposed to each other, you'll just have to hope the chick doesn't have anything to infect Precious with.


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## Puppydog (Oct 13, 2011)

This thread actually makes me sad.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

Puppydog said:


> This thread actually makes me sad.


I agree.  I would be VERY careful, resalat, especially since you've made it clear in the past that it's a problem for you to get good vet care. Even if they have already been exposed, I would still separate the baby to a different room and watch them both extremely closely.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

Yes, i agree to still separate them into different rooms. I was just saying that it is most likely that if he had a disease that was air-borne then Precious has been exposed.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

bjknight93 said:


> Yes, i agree to still separate them into different rooms. I was just saying that it is most likely that if he had a disease that was air-borne then Precious has been exposed.


Yes, and I COMPLETELY agree with you, which is really sad.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

Hopefully, the baby was mistakenly pushed out of the nest and it doesn't have disease or maybe it just has a genetic defect (poor baby). And i hope Precious remains healthy. Please keep us updated and separate the birds the best you can.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Everyone, thanks for the concerns & caring 

Actually, the swallow chick's cage remains in separate room, the cages are put side by side just when my wife & mom is busy with work, because the chick has to be hand-fed 5 times a day.....I've taken your advices seriously and we'll never put 'em together in same room. & I believe there's nothing to be sad & please do not think I'm ignorant. I made the swallow chick washed thoroughly with Savlon (Antiseptic Liquid)-mixed water, after the bath he was dried in the sun and then he got close to Precious & Precious has been healthy and he's been eating seed mix, capsicum, carrot & fresh corn....& he seems happy too


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Puppydog said:


> This thread actually makes me sad.


Sir,

Do you think I should have just walked away seeing this poor chick falling on the street where no one's even looking at it??? I live in a 3rd World Developing Country where there is no bird/wild animal rehabilitation/research/voluntary center available. Still there are so many people are dying of starvation/ malnutrition....in a poor country like this, there is no one there to take care of such a baby. Would it be wise to leave him aside??? I just couldn't do that. I may be poor, but I couldn't be inhuman.


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## susan (Jun 8, 2011)

Resalat you are doing an awesome job of taking care of that baby. Thank you!


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## Puppydog (Oct 13, 2011)

I am not a sir. And no, I don't think you should have walked away. I just think PRIOR research was in order. And you ran a massive risk bathing the baby in Savlon. Very, very dangerous.


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## roxy culver (May 27, 2010)

And resalat just because you bathed the baby does NOT mean its healthy. Wild birds carry immunities that our tame ones don't and can get very sick just being in the same room as a wild bird, baby or not. Sometimes babies are dropped from the nest by parents for a reason, because they are sick and will not make it in the wild on their own.


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

The bottom line is ..what's done is done. I agree with keeping them separated and now hoping for the best for both of them. Resalat.. I believe you did what you thought was best. And now also, you have more knowledge about some things that perhaps should have been handled a bit differently. I, myself, have gained some info from this thread. I do not have any advice to give in your circumstance, but hopefully others will be able to help you take care of the birds to the best of your ability.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

For the sake of education about quarantine procedures in this thread, I'd like to point out that washing the baby in antiseptic solution won't do anything to prevent the spread of contagious illness. Just like it wouldn't stop me from being contagious if I took a bath in antiseptic when I had the flu. I agree what's done is done, and I'm not trying to be mean, but I also want to be sure we're communicating accurate information about proper procedures.


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## Puppydog (Oct 13, 2011)

Also, Savlon is VERY harsh and could easily have damaged the poor baby.


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## DyArianna (Aug 7, 2011)

Very valuable information Enigma.  Hopefully your birds will get through this situation Resalat.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Puppydog said:


> I am not a sir. And no, I don't think you should have walked away. I just think PRIOR research was in order. And you ran a massive risk bathing the baby in Savlon. Very, very dangerous.


Thanks a lot  I know......it was a risk, but it worked pretty well I think


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

A BIG THANK to all of u guys, u've been a great help for me..... 
The little one's doing quite well, when he's hungry, he chirps and comes out of his nest and hangs around his cage all over. When he's fed, he falls asleep as soon as his meal is done  he has been with us for about 7-8 days and we can clearly see his new feathers coming out. When he feels cold, he goes down his woolen bed sheet, when he feels warm, he comes out and sleeps on his bed sheet. 

According to "MY" concern, he has been doing well, and what I think is, every individual bird's has different manner and characteristics, I think he fell off his nest just because he is SUPER CURIOUS.....the reason why I'm telling this is because, when he's not asleep, he seems very very curious and he consistently looks to get out of his cage....when he is out of cage, he climbs everything he finds and his looks seem full of curiosity. I think his curiosity is as like as the curiosity of the little mouse "Despereaux" in the movie THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX !


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

susan said:


> Resalat you are doing an awesome job of taking care of that baby. Thank you!


U r welcome dear.....we're just trying to save him and hope that he grows fast and when he'll be able to fly well, we'll rescue him, we don't wanna keep him with us though we love him as our own child  he has to get back to his herd. Please pray for him so that he could learn to fly quickly.


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## Puppydog (Oct 13, 2011)

I'm curious as to how you felt the Savlon worked.


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## bjknight93 (Nov 13, 2011)

If you plan to release him then you should minimize your handling because you don't want him used to human contact. Teach him to forage so he can do that in the wild and release him when it is a warm season so a flock of his kind will be around.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If the baby survives until fledging age, it will take some creativity to wean him. I don't know anything about these tree swallows, but probably the wild adults teach the babies how to find food. This baby won't know how to feed himself at the moment he begins to fly, and will need additional feeding from you while he learns how to find his own food. 

You will need to give him some freedom so he can learn to forage, yet keep him close enough that you can still feed him until he's independent. Wildlife rehabilitators usually do this with a large outdoor flight cage with the bird's natural food inside so the bird can forage. The bird is still caged so it won't get lost and can easily be fed by humans when necessary. You probably can't do anything like this. But if you get the baby accustomed to being fed outdoors before it learns to fly, maybe it will learn to recognize your house and will continue to hang around in the area after it fledges so you can feed it while it learns to forage.


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## enigma731 (Aug 12, 2011)

resalat_hasan said:


> Thanks a lot  I know......it was a risk, but it worked pretty well I think


resalat, did you see my earlier post? You cannot wash away contagious illness. If the baby has a contagious organism, only the proper medication will do anything about that. It's really best not to bathe a bird with anything but water (or to bathe a bird AT ALL at that age), but if you feel you MUST, it's much safer to use a gentle handsoap than a caustic antiseptic agent. Again, I'm not trying to be mean, but since you have made it clear that you don't have the proper resources, I'd like to share as much as I can.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

If it's not too much trouble, could you post the scientific name of the swallow or give us a link to the ID information you found? Knowing the exact species would be helpful because then we can look for information on its natural behavior, especially the diet. Swallows are insect eaters who catch small insects in flight, and if you are feeding your baby something else then the bird might not thrive in the long run. A human obviously can't teach a baby how to catch insects on the wing, so we have to hope that the baby can figure this out for itself and will stay close to home so you can provide supplemental feeding until it is weaned.

There's a list of the birds of Bangladesh at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Bangladesh with the swallows and martins at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Bangladesh#Swallows_and_martins When I tried to google tree swallow, all I could find was a bird native to the Americas that doesn't go to Asia at all. The two swallows that are found in Bangladesh are the barn swallow and the striated swallow, and it looks like both types have subspecies that breed in SE Asia including Bangladesh. But these species don't nest in trees - the striated swallow nests in caves and the barn swallow prefers to nest inside buildings or on some other kind of human structure.

It's always possible that the list of Bangladeshi birds is incomplete, but it does not show the Jacobin cuckoo (Clamator jacobinus). There are several other cuckoos on the list though. Maybe your baby is one of these. Cuckoos don't build their own nests and instead lay their eggs in the nest of other species so that the host bird ends up raising the cuckoo chick, with their own babies usually thrown out of the nest by the cuckoo. Here's more information on the Jacobin cuckoo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacobin_Cuckoo

I've been looking for a birding forum that might have someone who can help identify Asian birds. The one at http://www.birdforum.net/ might be able to help. This is a very busy forum, with an Asia subforum that has many additional subforums for specific countries. There isn't a subforum for Bangladesh, but people in the subforums for India and Myanmar might recognize your bird. They might even be able to advise you on taking care of the bird.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Thanks tielfan and others once again. I've read everyone's replies very very carefully and have taken all the advices seriously & we'll act accordingly, for sure  ....u know, I've read some articles where the bird specialists said that Asian Tree Swallows generally are waned in 45 days. He is only 2 weeks old now.....I think he can't forage for food in this age, but ya, we let him free.....he runs around the house and looks happy.....when he finds a warm hand in front of him, he just jumps onto it !


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

By the way, precious has been doing very well.....he now eats more.....loves to eat more veggies  some new feathers around his neck and under wings are growing fast & a good number of new crown feathers have been grown up....


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> He is only 2 weeks old now


The baby looked pretty well feathered in the picture you posted a week ago so I think he's considerably older than 2 weeks:









The behavior you describe is also consistent with an older baby, such as curiosity that led him to fall out of the nest. If his flight feathers were fully grown when you found him, it's possible that he was actually a fledgling that just left the nest at the appropriate time. Newly fledged babies often spend a few days hanging out on the ground while their parents bring food to them, and they often are "rescued" by well-meaning people who think the bird has been abandoned. 

I get zero results when I google "Asian tree swallow" so this bird probably has a different name. I don't know much about birding but its face does look similar to a swallow. It could also be some kind of martin - these birds look very similar to swallows, and there are four martin species on the list of Bangladesh birds. There might be other possibilities too. If the people on the birding forum can make a proper identification for you, it will help you provide the most appropriate care for this baby. If you show them very recent pictures of the bird on all sides and tell them that it's a juvenile, they might be able to ID it for you.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

@tielfan, I'[email protected] r8 now, returning home I'll let u know the link of the site where I saw a 14 days old tree swallow chick.....lookin' exactly like our baby


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I was still curious about the species of this bird so I posted on a birding forum and got three replies. One person thought it was a plain martin (Riparia paludicola http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_Martin ) which doesn't sound quite right because they nest in sandbanks. 

The other two thought it was an Asian palm swift (Cypsiurus balasiensis http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Palm-Swift ) which sounds much better because these birds nest in palm trees. They're apparently not considered to be city birds but every species has some individuals that behave oddly so it could happen. According to the link, the name "balasiensis" is derived from the Bengali name "Batassia", which refers to a 'bird resembling the wind', so the connection to Bengal must be very strong.

Both of these species are on the list of Bangladesh birds at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_birds_of_Bangladesh


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Thanks a lot tielfan for your kind suggestion & support.....u (We, I should say) don't have to be worried anymore......he's left us all, he died on December 16th on the hand of his mom  ......my wife just couldn't bear the shock and she got sick  

I think he ridiculously injured himself while falling off the nest. Cause the bird chicks always look to be fed, but he never opened his mouth for food, we had to open it and feed. Whatever, we kept him warm, fed him....prayed for him, those didn't do any good....we wanted to make him fly in the sky on earth, Almighty Has let him fly in the Heaven's sky


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

By the way, I've buried him deep down in my garden and have dumped his bed......Precious has been good so far, we've been keeping him warm with fan heater as the temperature's been falling down to 12-14 degree Celsius right now.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

I'm sorry that he didn't survive. Maybe it was because of the diet - I don't know if anyone ever identified the species correctly but he seemed to be some kind of swift/swallow/martin and those are all birds that live on a diet of insects caught on the wing. Very difficult for a human to replicate, and it would have been just about impossible to teach him how to get his own food after he fledged.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

@tielfan, I think u r very right. The food we gave him, please check it out

http://www.cellbazaar.com/web/item-....aspx?id=c19f710c-067b-4998-912d-67f08e45f43a

Actually, I was thinking of giving him foods except for insects....I searched the pet stores and found this food slightly similar to their diet (containing Protein, Egg Yolk, Fish......vitamin and minerals).....I think it was a mistake....but I had to feed him something and it was a bit closer to their diet I thought.....he seemed okay with that food as his new feathers on his neck began to grow out nicely. But all on a sudden, he died 

u know, the moment he died.....if u had a look at his eyes....oh GOD ! Every time I remember his eyes while dying.....I feel like my heart is being torn into thousand pieces.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

The link goes to food for mynah birds. Mynahs do eat some insects but I have the impression that they mostly eat fruit. It seems that swifts and swallows eat only insects, so mynah food wouldn't have the right nutrient balance for them. 

I don't know why your baby wasn't begging for food. Maybe he was sick or injured; maybe he was having trouble digesting the food and didn't feel hungry because he still had undigested food inside from the last feeding; maybe it was because you didn't look like his mother. 

It's very sad that he died, but unfortunately this is how it turns out most of the time when inexperienced people try to rescue a wild baby bird. We just don't have the knowledge and resources to give them what they need. If a wildlife rehabilitator is available, they can provide the best human help (and in some places this is the only human help that is legal). 

Just a general note for anyone reading the thread: if you find a baby bird on the ground that seems to be unhurt, look at how well developed its feathers are. If it's fully feathered it is a fledgling. You might not be able to see the parents but they are somewhere nearby collecting food for it, and if you watch long enough you will see them feed the baby. If the baby is in danger it's OK to move it to a safer place that isn't too far away from where you found it, for example putting it in a bush. But otherwise you should leave it alone - the parents can take better care of it than we can. If the baby is not fully feathered then it's best to put it back in the nest if you can. If that isn't possible then human rescue is probably the baby's only hope for survival and you'll have to make a decision about what to do.


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## susan (Jun 8, 2011)

I am so sorry Resalat! You and your wife did the best you could for the little guy. I commend you for that. He is in Heaven, happy and free. He was a very lucky little bird that he had you and your wife to love and care for him in his short little life.


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## meaggiedear (Nov 20, 2011)

tielfan said:


> The link goes to food for mynah birds. Mynahs do eat some insects but I have the impression that they mostly eat fruit. It seems that swifts and swallows eat only insects, so mynah food wouldn't have the right nutrient balance for them.
> 
> I don't know why your baby wasn't begging for food. Maybe he was sick or injured; maybe he was having trouble digesting the food and didn't feel hungry because he still had undigested food inside from the last feeding; maybe it was because you didn't look like his mother.
> 
> ...


Thank you for posting this. It was really sad to read all this. I rescued a baby bird who was not a fledging one time when I caught my cat trying to hurt it and it died shortly after. If I had just moved it out of harm's way- I am confident that the parents would have retrieved it and it would have lived.


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

> If I had just moved it out of harm's way- I am confident that the parents would have retrieved it and it would have lived.


If the cat actually touched the bird it might have died from infection. Cats carry bacteria that are very dangerous to birds, and anytime a cat touches a pet bird it's recommended to get the bird to the vet ASAP for antibiotics.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

@susan, thanks a lot for sharing feelings

@tielfan, thanks yet again for sharing your knowledge, I think I must do what u just said.....we shouldn't have brought him home......he's no more, the pain's getting too unbearable....we're feeling guilty inside  

There's a saying in our religion that the Heaviest Burden for a father is the dead body of his son above his shoulder......I've just had the exact feeling of it while putting the little body down the grave


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## tielfan (Aug 31, 2008)

You were trying to help him and did the best you could. He was in danger on a busy street and he might have died if you left him there. It was a difficult situation and it's sad that things didn't turn out better, but at least he had a few days of safety while he was with you.


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## resalat_hasan (Sep 7, 2011)

Thanks a lot for your kind words.


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