Baby Falls Out of Nest – Chapter 4.

It’s a long way up to the nest…

Pardalotes usually nest in earth banks close to the ground, so I thought if I made a ‘hill’ for the baby to go up, it may be able to get high enough for the parents to feed it. I arranged carpet mats sloping up to the top of the heater.

The baby was not interested, so I put it on top of the ‘hill’ so the parents could reach it.

It was still a looong way from the nest hole. I made a little ‘nest’ of dried grass and looked in the garden and around the house for any dead bugs I could feed the baby. 


At this time of year, we get lots of moths inside; I usually catch several big ones each evening with a net and put them outside so they don’t wake us up at night fluttering noisily at the windows trying to get out. 

However, I could find nothing, so in desperation I finely chopped up a little raw pork and offered it to the baby bird. It ignored the offering, even when I touched the meat to its beak – I obviously didn’t have the right feeding signals. 

The parents kept feeding the other babies, and the baby was frantic, piteously calling. 

Video

Our stray baby was jumping up frantically, with no hope of getting up to the nest and no chance it seemed of being fed unless it was up in the nest itself.

Video