Substitute nest box trial.
When the baby Pardalote was calling from the floor, the parents seemed concerned, perching on the heater flue and looking down at it, but not able to help. They were still feeding the others in the nest, but the baby on the floor was going hungry.
I couldn’t leave it there, but couldn’t put it back in the nest, either: it was too high to reach without getting a ladder, the baby may just fall out again, and also if I interfered with the nest I was worried that the parents may abandon it altogether, despite being used to our presence nearby.
I decided to try making a substitute ‘nest’ to place within easy reach for the parents. I emptied a tissue box, made a couple of wire hooks to hang it with, and put some dried grass inside.
I carefully picked up the baby bird and placed in in the nest ‘hole’ in the box.
I climbed onto a small table and reached as high as I could to hook the nest box onto the heater flue nest to the real nest hole.
The parents were dubious to start with, but became bolder and perched on the flue above the new thing in their ‘nest area’. One came in with a moth in its beak for the babies, but sat on the flue looking around.
It eventually swallowed the moth itself; you can see the fuzz around its beak.
The piping cries from the baby in the box confused the parents, and they flapped around the box, making an insistent “cheow” noise, but didn’t go in.
They seemed aware of the baby in the box, but kept feeding the others in the nest and the stray was still missing out. It was piping piteously in the box, jumping vigorously, while the parent “chirred” at it.
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