I know you're not supposed to do this, but...

[layla]

... I *think* it had a happy ending. Remember that sandpiper I complained about in the last entry that has been peeping loudly in the creek? Well, this evening walking the dogs in the driveway (a few hundred yards away from the creek) I saw something skittering about in the gravel. Looking closer, I saw it was a baby sandpiper. Cute little ball of fluff on long legs! It was all legs and beak, though it could run pretty well. I didn't know what to do with it, but I was pretty sure that as soon as the dogs noticed it, they would kill it. So I picked it up -- which I realize is what you're absolutely NOT supposed to do with baby birds, because then the parents don't recognize their smell and abandon them. But the alternative was the poor thing getting mouthed to death by dogs.

Wondering if it might be the noisy one's baby, I put the dogs in the house and then took my fluffy little handful over to the creek (it was making pathetic peeping noises, redoubled in intensity whenever it heard the loud peeping of the adult). The adult bird immediately showed up, peeping loudly and fluttering around me. I set the baby down in the grass on the far bank and then retreated to watch. There followed a lot of peeping on both sides, and once they found each other in the grass (which took awhile) the baby scuttled up to the adult which commenced peeping very loudly and angrily at me. I went off to look around the driveway and make sure I hadn't broken up a group of babies (didn't find any more) and when I went back to check on them, the adult charged me with loud peeps and much anger; it wouldn't even let me onto the bridge, so I went off and left it in peace. Otherwise, it's been quiet ever since, for the first time in days. I guess the parent was OK with the baby smelling like a little bit like sweaty people hands.

Comments

[divalea.livejournal.com]

Actually, people smell does not cause animals to abandon their babies--as you found out!

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Another bit of motherly wisdom bites the dust! Aargh! ;)

I'm glad though. I was all worried that I had doomed the poor thing by trying to help it.

[divalea.livejournal.com]

You actually did exactly the right thing!

http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/babybird.asp

Yup

[vogelein.livejournal.com]

You're such a good steward of the land! Grizzly Layla. Now we just need to get you a mule named "Number Seven".

Lea's right... birds have an underdeveloped sense of smell -- it's mouses and chipmunks and other small mammals with which you have to avoid the stinky-people abandonment thing.

Also -- if sandpipers are anything like killdeer (I think they're pretty closely related), they'll likely only have the one chick. I think it's a survival mechanism for the parent bird... can you imagine having to chase after more than one of those speedy little guys? They practically have their own sound effect:

Har!

[vogelein.livejournal.com]

I was wrong... though I've only ever seen killdeer with one chick at a time, apparrently they usually lay four eggs... now that's an overworked parent.

http://www.birdwatching.com/stories/killdeer.html

"Baby birds that hatch with their running shoes on are called precocial. Precocial means "ripened beforehand." (The word comes from the same Latin source as "precocious.") Other precocial birds besides killdeer are chickens, ducks, and quail. None of these precocial babies lies in the nest and gets waited on."

Heh... ripened chicks. I think there's a joke in there somewheres.

Re: Har!

[laylalawlor.livejournal.com]

Well, that certainly does describe this little guy. Although he wouldn't be able to outrun a dog (or me) he could really move.

Orion looked up information on sandpiper life cycles after I came back to the house. Apparently, by the time the mother is done hatching the eggs she's pretty sick of the whole deal, and after about a week to 10 days, she leaves and migrates south, leaving the dad to continue taking care of the babies (which may be why this adult was by itself -- I thought its mate had been killed, but perhaps she just packed her bags and left). Then after another 10 days or so -- the point at which the babies start to feather out and become able to fly -- the father does the same thing, leaving the chicks to fend for themselves until they're old enough to migrate. Talk about latchkey kids!