it's been over a year now...

[DallyTsuka]

last year we raised a little house sparrow baby and successfully released him into the wild after letting him learn to forage and fend for himself. i miss the little guy very much and hope he is still out there and raising a family of his own this year.


here are some photos from when we got him until we released him. here is Buddy

and a video of him learning to forage for his own food (mealworms)

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhtsf2_wvlE&feature=youtu.be]Buddy Foraging - YouTube[/ame]

 

[DallyTsuka]

 

[MissyMe83]

Awe, how sweet! I hope he is doing well too : )

 

[crimson]

I didn't know they have beautiful yellow beaks, I just love sparrows.
I'm sure he's very happy where ever he is, and he has you to thank for that

 

[DallyTsuka]

the year before him we had successfully raised a baby grackle, and he is special to us as well, but buddy the sparrow we got most attached to. letting him go was very difficult for us, and we miss him very much. but, he belonged in the wild where he was from. you could see it in his face each time he looked out the window. he wanted out there. and he would not have had that chance. he had fallen from his nest and the parents did not return for him (i watched for over an hour) and starlings were attacking him. so he came home with us, and we didnt expect good results as he was starving and dehydrated when he first came home. but he fought on, and i miss his morning chirps. he was a special baby to us.

 

[chippy]

THANK YOU for ensuring that he could return to the wild where he belongs! That takes a lot of work, care and love.

 

[Nocturnal]

Aww, so cute--- you should have kept him though! I know here in the US, at least, Sparrows are considered non-native and invasive and you could technically get in trouble for releasing them into the wild, hence it's perfectly legal to trap or poison them, but also to keep them as pets (and they make great pets, even have a slight talking ability!). Apparently they will brutalize native birds' nests (chicks and all) and lay their own eggs there and hatch their babies.

The same story goes for European Starlings here, and I hope to one day get ahold of a baby and raise it as a pet <3 Starlings are wicked smart and the next est thing to being able to have a crow (illegal as pets here).

 

[MikeyTN]

I miss the baby Robin I raise and release as well....He loved sitting on your shoulders while your rocking in a rocking chair. Never poop on us and would do it in his cage. He took off in a high wind one day. I teach him to eat worms on the ground and I feed him berries and insects....Very neat bird!!!

 

[DallyTsuka]

i dont think it is illegal here to release them. i know canadian rehabillitation centers do release starlings, so im sure its the same as house sparrows.

but we also have places who wont even take them in, so who knows. :/

all i know is, he was wild and deserved to be wild. you could see it in his face. he is where he belongs now

 

[haleybird]

I know exactly how you feel! We raised and released a baby magpie, Baby, a little over 4 years ago, and honestly not a day goes by where I dont think about her for a minute....she was such an amazing and intelligent bird...I would have loved to keep her....but I wouldn't have felt right denying her the freedom and life she was made for and deserved. She loved to turn lights on and off, steal things and hide them in funny places, and sneak tomatoes off the vine and replant them in the funniest places (we still find oddly placed tomatoes in the garden and say "that must be one that Baby planted!") The weeks preceding her flight into a flock of magpies that live in this oak grove on the next property, this huge beautiful magpie would come and hang out with her (she stuck around our property and house for a few weeks while learning to forage on her own and stuff) and one day a whole bunch flew to her and she flew back to us and was squawking, like she was telling us it was time for her to fly with her kind, then she flew back to the other magpies and they all flew away together...

The best part is that I feel like can tell her "wee-bee-beep" call apart from the others and sometimes there's this one magpie who flies from the stand of trees and calls over our house before circling back. I'm pretty sure its Baby checking up on us or just flying by...I hope she has a bird family out there too, and is living free and happy.

I'm sure your baby sparrow is living and flying happily as well! you did the right thing setting her up to live in the wild, where they can fly as high as they can. You will always remember her too, just like I remember the magpie I got to raise. I've raised/released quite a few wild birds, but that magpie was one very extra special little being. I'm pretty sure your sparrow was one of those extra special little beings too.

 

[U2gal]

A house sparrow was the very first bird I had ever owned when I was 12 y.o

I was walking my dog one day and saw a starling raid a house sparrow nest. Two eggs survived a 13foot drop. I incubated those eggs in my hand for 12 hours, and the next day one hatched.

Her name was Sapphire, and she was with me for over 5 years. They make great companions