One Lone Survivor..

I wasn't going to check the nestbox today.

I was going to wait until tomorrow as I was headed out of town for a few days.  My plans changed and I ended up leaving today instead, one day early, so I decided to check on my way out of town..and I am so glad that I did.

It must have been fate, if you believe in such things.  Yesterday, there were 5 healthy baby bluebirds. Today, when I opened the nestbox, I had a quick look, snapped a couple of pics, but something just didn't look right through the viewfinder. The babies were not snugged in together the way they were on the previous two visits. One was on top of the rest and I could see a pair of little legs upright in the nest.

Sammy is the one on top, with his back towards the camera.
 Sadly, the other four nestlings were dead.

With a lump in my throat, I reached in and touched one of the bottom ones..the baby was so cold and didn't move. I gently picked it up and saw little blood droplets on it's head and what looked like peck marks.  Sadly, it was gone.

I picked up 3 more and they were all the same, lifeless.

From my research, I suspect that either house sparrows (although I have never seen house sparrows around here) or european starlings pecked them on the head to death to possibly claim the nestbox.  A vicious act and a tragic ending to their short lives.

I reached for the last one, the one that had been on top of all the others, I expected it also to be dead. It was alive!

I was relieved, happy and nervous at the same time. It wasn't moving very much, it's eyes were still closed, and it was a little cool to the touch, but it was definitely alive..the sole survivor out of five beautiful nestlings. I quickly and carefully checked it over for any injuries, and finding none visible, I gently placed it back into it's nest, alone.

I closed up the nestbox and with a heavy heart, placed the dead babies in a bag and walked across the field to wait anxiously for the parents to come back and feed the little one that was left.

I watched vigilantly for over 2 hours and saw no sign of them anywhere in the field or the surrounding trees. On my previous two visits, both parents were back feeding the babies within a few minutes. All I could think was either something had happened to them too, or they had abandoned the nest thinking all their babies were dead.

I think I knew, even before I realized this tiny baby was on his own, that if it needed help I would provide it.  It wasn't a difficult decision.  I knew it was illegal to keep and care for this little one. And I didn't really know how to care for it. But, it needed help to even have a chance to live.
I could not walk away and leave it to die. That was NOT an option.

So, I gently scooped it up out of the nestbox, carried it in my cupped hand against my chest back to my car. I drove back home and held the baby in my hands to warm it up for about 20 minutes and once it no longer felt cool, I tucked it into a towel to keep it warm.  Next, I got some supplies to take with me, as I still had to head out of town.

I found a little box with a lid, laid a small towel in it and arranged kleenex into a cozy nest inside a small round plastic container.  Then I carefully tucked the baby bluebird in and closed the lid partially so air could get in and to make it dark, as it was used to.  I had mealworms at home for feeding my yard birds, so I put some in a container to bring with me. I also got tweezers and paper towels.  I looked up a song bird rehabber and stored the number in my phone. Then, the baby Eastern Bluebird and I set off on our journey.

As soon as I was on the road, I called the rehabber (my phone can be used with the car speakers, hands-free) and explained the situation and asked for advice on feeding, care, etc. She asked if I could get the bird to her and I couldn't as she was over 4 hours away from me. She was very knowledgeable and friendly, and gave me all the information she could on how to help this poor little orphan stay alive, grow and be healthy, ready to be returned to the wild where he should be.

And so the story of raising this lone little survivor begins...