So, just watching TV and head a big thunk. This little fella flew into my window. Think it’s broken it’s wing 🙁 I don’t know much about these types of birds… Any ideas what it is? I managed to get it in a box. Loads of cats around here so 100 percent chance it will not last if I stick it outside. Do I let nature deal with it or is there anything else I can do.

Looks like a recently fledged thrush. (or a baby robin?)

Looks like a young blackbird.

Sorry, don’t really know what to suggest though, if it was something like an owl there are obvious places to take them. Sometimes they can hold their wings funny though. A parent should be nearby, so might be best to let nature do it’s course.

its not very big is it.

10 mins at Gas mark 6? Bit fiddly though.

🙂 Na it’s not big at all… Something that **** Heston blumewhatit would serve up on a cocktail stick.

Thanks for the replies. There is a big blackbird with a worm in its mouth loitering around. So my sherlock skills say it’s a blackbird.

Will leave it for a bit and hope it gets found by a vegetarian animal.

My what has the world become of now that t W a t is considered a swear word 🙂

Ortolan?

Might be able to find someone to help here

Im gonna go with lady blackbird.

If you are SURE it has a broken wing and feel you should do something about it, a few minutes with its face in the exhaust of a petrol car will send it to sleep very effectively. (my dads gf is a vet, thats how she deals with injured animals out of hours, injured birds and that, not peoples dogs and cats as a side line!)

Diesel will just give it a black face and asthma i’m afraid.

Natures cruel though. No point in feeling guilty if she ends up in a cat

Had to Google that CFH! Strange ones the French 🙂

Olly yeah I think it has…. Its wing is all floppy and it hit with such a force. Unfortunately both my cars are diesel….. I don’t fancy asking one of my neighbours of I can borrow their car to kill something. 🙂 don’t feel guilty…. Nature is cruel… I just bloody hate cats and don’t want to make it easy for them. If it was a pigeon, and big enough, it would be going in the oven.

Swift sharp knock to the head with something like a spanner I’m afraid. Put it out of its misery.

If it’s flown into a window it’s more likely to be stunned than to have broken anything (they hit the window beak first). A night indoors in the warm, somewhere quiet and dark and safe from cats, might give it a chance to recover–put it out as soon as it gets light, the parent might still be feeding it and might find it (although it looks old enough to take care of itself). If it’s injured try a wildlife hospital or the RSPCA (they might advise taking it to a vet who will ‘euthanase’ anything without insurance)

If you want to top it quickly and painlessly then just pull it’s neck. Surprisingly little force needed on small birds. Just hold it’s head and body, quick tug upwards.

Its wing is all floppy and it hit with such a force

It’s possible that it might be broken I guess, but unlikely I would have thought – at that age all their bones are surprisingly flexible and rubbery, even their beaks can be.

A wildlife hospital is the obvious answer if you know of one near you.

Must be getting soft in my old age. I used to spend ages shooting these things as a lad! Heston is now inside, with a handful of worms and some water. Will give the thing 24 hrs to get fighting fit and then hopefully he, she / he-she, will have the best chance of recovery. It bit my finger so I was close to putting the little “&#* out but I am all for second chances.

If he’s a fledgling he won’t pick up the worms on its own, you’ll have to open its beak and place them in. There should be an animal rescue place near you that will take him.

Will see how Heston is tomorrow. He is warm and safe for now so hopefully he will be Ok tomorrow. He seems much more active so maybe he was just stunned (no idea if it is a he).

Probably is animal place nearby but not going out this late and I need my beauty sleep.

Just Google for wildlife rescue in your area. It’s not that difficult for someone who knows what they’re doing to mend a bird’s broken wing, it doesn’t have to be killed.
I found a tawny owl one winter evening sat right on the edge of a main road, obviously hit by a truck or van, I picked it up and put it in the back of the car, wrapped in a blanket. It had started to flap around when I got home, so I put it in a box, found a wildlife rescue locally, and someone came and picked it up.
It was actually fine, and was released back where I found it, but it’s always worth trying to save young birds, if they’re not to badly hurt.

I would take it to the vets or leave it outside so the mother can maybe feed it

Update…..

First of all let me make this clear. I hate cats.

I kept Heston warm all night, he seemed quite chirpy and active this morning before work. I put him in a box as Far off the ground as I could in the hope he would be found.

Let me also say, I did contact the wildlife protection Trust who basically said stick it in a box outside.

And look….. 🙁 poor Heston is no more. Nature is so cruel but hey that’s life.

I tried Heston I really did. RIP little fella…

Not so much Heston Blumenthal as Heston Services, really.

Baby blackbird – was stuffed from the start, really. Mum might’ve come back for it, but there was next to zero chance of him being viable.

🙁

You did your best.

Your best is no good. 🙄

Look at it! It died in agony.

Sufferin succotash.

There’s one in my garden with about 1 tail feather left and a droopy wing, I don’t think it can/wants to fly as it’s running about a lot. Mum and Dad have given up and buggered off.

My garden is pretty cat resistant, due to me blocking their access with spikey things, so it’ll last until the sparrowhawk notices it, then it’s toast…

If you look closely…. I am sure you can see a smile that says something like “thanks Dave you really tried to help me so don’t worry, I am now happy eating worms in bird heaven (or hell or reincarnated, or nothing – whatever your belief or lack of states/informs/mandates).

Something like that anyway.

It’s barely a scratch, Solarpowered and friends could get it going again!

Ah well, good karma for trying.

Although I also hate what cats do to indigenous wildlife, it could well have been a magpie, jackdaw, or similar, that did in little Heston.

RIP Heston! 🙁