Bird with a broken wing?

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

My ds and his friend came home with an injured bird yesterday. From time to time we have birds hit our window. My usual routine if they're still alive is to set them up in a "nest box" (small box lined with a towel) in our open but sheltered back porch. Generally by morning they've either recovered enough to fly away or they've been taken by a neighborhood cat.

Not this one. She (he? Waxwings all look the same) was still there this morning. The temperature dropped drastically overnight to -30C. So I've taken her and the box inside. I've offered her some water with a dropper. She seemed to drink a little bit and I've left some berries near her in the box along with a dish of water. She's a cedar waxwing and these are berries from trees I see flocks of them eating around here.

Her one wing is hanging a little limp but doesn't seem oddly bent or twisted. There's no blood or other sign of injury other than the wing. She's alert and moving around in her box. She doesn't seem distressed unless we get too close and start poking at her.

She's now in my laundry room where she won't be disturbed by kids or dogs.

I'm not sure what else to do or even if she has a chance of recovery. Has anyone else nursed a bird through a broken wing? Is there anything else I should/shouldn't be doing for her?

[outlier]

I've dealt with injured birds before. One thing to be aware of this time of year is that migratory birds put on a lot of fat and can overheat pretty easily once they're brought inside. If they're able to transition to an indoor climate (i.e. lose some of that fat), it means they may have a tough time transitioning back to outdoor winter mode when they're let go.

Do you have any wild bird sanctuaries or wild animal rescues in your area that would take it? If not, I would try to keep it in a cooler part of the house or in a closed garage if possible. If you live in a part of the country where waxwings stay during the winter, it might have a chance to recover and can then be turned loose outside. If you're in a northern area where the waxwings are migrating from, that makes it a more difficult situation.

Don't feel bad if she doesn't make it! The odds are stacked against her, but you never know.

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

Thanks. I'm pretty sure waxwings overwinter here. We usually see flocks of them on and off all winter long. We're pretty far north. All migratory birds are long since gone at this time of year.

That's a good point about the heat. I'll open the window in the laundry room so it can cool off in there.

I'm looking around to see if there are any wildlife sanctuaries or some such that I can take her too but so far no luck.

[oiseau]

I would second looking for a wildlife rehabber. Where are you located (PM me if you want) and I may be able to help find someone.
Birds sometimes hold their wings a little droopy when they're stressed. If you take her outside and gently poke her, does she show any inclination to fly away? Does she flap her wings at all when you come close?
Injured birds are really tricky. There's not really much more I can think of to do besides what you're already doing. Good luck.

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

I'm in north central BC. Fort St. James. It's about 2 hours north west of Prince George.

I found a website for BC wildlife rehab and there was an email address for someone in Prince George (no phone #) I've written them but haven't heard back yet.

The bird flaps it's good wing when we get close and it's managed to get up onto the edge of it's box and tried to take off from there. It fell when it tried to fly. I've put a screen over the box now as I don't want it to hurt itself trying to fly

[oiseau]

I found info for a place called Northern Wildlife Rescue in Prince George. Their info is

P: [phone]
[e-mail]

It does say they only do mammals and raptors, but they might be able to help or they might know someone else who could. It might be worth contacting local vets as well. I did a google map search to see where Ft Saint James is...I bet it's beautiful there!! But it doesn't look like there's much close by. I'm all the way in Washington DC where there's too much stuff close by!
Good luck with the bird.

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

I actually got in touch with northernraptor yesterday evening. My husband was going to take the bird in to PG tomorrow. However the bird passed away last night.

I'm sad. I had started to think the bird was going to make it. I figured if he was going to die of shock it would have been in the first day or 2 and it was eating, drinking and alert. I figured it could keep going until the wing healed. My biggest concern was that the wing wouldn't heal well enough for it to fly again and I wasn't sure what I would do if that happened. I was surprised to find it dead this morning.

DS is very upset.

I've been trying to focus him on the fact that the birds last few days were sheltered, dry, fed and relatively comfortable rather than freezing to death in a snow bank or being eaten by a cat.

[oiseau]

I'm sorry to hear that. Birds are so incredibly susceptible to stress of any kind (got my Master's degree studying the effects of stress on birds). It's really hard to rehab them, but I was hoping your guy might do better since you had the right kind of food there for him. I rescued a baby starling from my garden last year and tried to raise him, but he only made it a few days. Not many rehabbers will take starlings since they are an exotic species.
I totally agree that your bird probably had a much happier end to his life than he would have if he'd been left outside.

[bjorker]

I had that exact situation happen to me as a kid. Injured bird, tried to nurse him back to health in our garage, but he died after a few days. Your ds will still remember it all positively! I was incredibly sad when my little rescued bird died but it was still a neat experience to have had.

[Rhiannon Feimorgan]

My grandmother used to take in birds. Generally she had the best success with very young birds who had fallen out of the nest. She hand raised 2 humming birds that were able to fly away in the end and she had a crow named Jack that she had nursed through an injury and that hung around her property for years afterward.

I wish I had been able to ask her advice.