I love my barn sparrows. They are the my volunteer pest control crew.
They arrive mid March and migrate back to South America in early August. Two weeks ago, there were almost 40 of them Hoovering up insects.
Video from March 18 when the first swallows returnedIt's like having my own squadron of Stealth bombers. And I protect them viciously. Crows get one warning shot if they get too close to the barn and harass the fledglings. There are always a couple fledglings that don't grasp the concept of flight. On Friday, one such ninny was sitting out in the sand where the horses were about to pass. I scooped him up, climbed up a ladder and set him on a rafter in the barn. By evening, no mama bird had fed him and he fell down.
I brought a ladder outside and perched him on the roof where they were all flying around. Still ignored after an hour, I realized it was Go Time. I grabbed the office vacuum and sat by a fresh pile of manure and sucked up flies for 10 minutes. Harvesting my flies.
I grabbed my patient, my flies and headed home after work.
My food processor will never be the same again.
I suspect he's either a moron, or his collarbone is broken. He only has 3 more weeks before they all leave, he needs to heal up fast. So, I'm toting him to work with me and feeding him every hour.
His appetite is good, at least we have that. And man can he poop!
Video of Sprout, Day 2 at noonI put him in a bucket nest on my screened porch at night because it's warmer outside that in my house.
This morning, I put him on my bathroom window sill as I readied for work. He never offers to fly away, he simply flutters his wings and chats with me. Online resources say that the wing can be splinted, if confirmed broken, but swallows are so tiny, I can't imagine doing it to something that only weighs as much as 8 pennies (Google it, no joke).
