Camera Labs

Fallen from the nest in the palm high above,
onto the pavement back of my home,
his siblings are dead and his mother is gone.



As Found


As Fed


As Fond

28-6-2008

Sweet!

When I saw the three short lines you had written for a moment I thought you had gone for a Haiku. But it wasn't one.
So with the thought of a Haiku having popped into my head I gave it a try....


life falls from the sky
frozen in eternal light
be warm in our hearts


Ben

Beautiful!
How much does it weigh?
What do you feed it?
Can you make a picture with it sleeping in its "nest"?

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
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Awww!!! That's so sweet of you to take care of it =)

Good pictures of the lil guy!

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Wildlife/Bird Photographer
Canon 5D & Digital Rebel T1i
EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, EF 70-200mm F4L IS USM, EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Kenko DG Auto Extension Tube Set - 36mm, 20mm, 12mm
My Photography: mydigitalmind : flickr

so cute!

So you have a new member of the family now?

_________________
Tobywuk personal website || My Flickr
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Reid. There is nothing, nothing nothing, like a man who is a "scooper". Scoop em up, and take care of them...thank you, for being that sort of "savior"...will keep my fingers crossed that the little tyke keeps getting healthier and healthier.
Beautiful capture of hope.

BEN! Haiku
are you
our far away friend.

not so good at Haiku, but am glad you are...
loved it.


patti

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canon 7D, Mark iii 5D, ef 70-300 f/4-5.6, ef 28-135mm canon 100-400mm L IS 4.5, and a little 24-70 L f/2.8...

Hi Reid,

You're a star and I'm keeping everything crossed that it works out. Have you managed to get specialist advice? I guess so, as you already seem to have feeding well sorted, but is the little fellow toileting OK as well? The best of luck.

Bob.

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Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

He's alright and full grown and has long since been put back to the wild.
I was looking in my files for something that might be of human interest.
I recalled this event. It was just over two years ago now.

Just before dark I went out to the back of my house and looked for the nest
high up, 20 feet up in the palm. I had watched the mother squirrel make that nest.
But with concern that I had not seen her all day. And then I looked down at my feet.
Ants swarmed over two tiny dead bodies, both nearly gone already.
And I looked further and found him, perfectly unharmed, just at the base of the palm.
It was like that.

Scooped him up very carefully.
Not knowing what to do next, I got on the 'net and looked,
and found a wildlife expert, a Miami-Dade County fireman, who, from his home,
offers first aid to rescued animals.
So within an hour the wee fellow was cradled
on tissue paper in an empty Kleenex box, and driven to the fireman's home.
He's good with these animals. We were feeding the tyke in short order.

The top picture shows the squirrel at my home just after the find.
The other two pictures were taken at the fireman's home;
that middle picture shows the finish of the feeding, see how much plumper he is already?
He was dehydrated before.
And the last picture shows him ready for his new bed.

The baby squirrel went the next day to a fully staffed, volunteer wildlife center up in the next county.
In time this squirrel was ready to go on and climb trees, just like....

my late father sang to me when I was a child,

Angus McFergus McTavish Dundee

There was a grey squirrel, lived up in a tree,
Named Angus McFergus McTavish Dundee.
Frisking high in the branches, oh, merry was he,
Was Angus McFergus McTavish Dundee.

He nibbled on nuts he had stored, don't you see,
This Angus McFergus McTavish Dundee.
And he bombed all the picnickers under his tree,
Did Angus McFergus McTavish Dundee.

Were I not myself, now I'd much like to be
Like Angus McFergus Mctavish Dundee.
I'd not pay the rent, and my meals would be free
Beside Angus McFergus Mctavish Dundee.


pardon my lousy voice? I'm only a squirrel, you know!

Hats off to you Reid Welch and all the others who took pity on a defenseless and doomed baby.

Mankind is cruel enough to the animal kingdom as it is. Nature is pretty darn cruel to itself at times too.

Glad to see that there are a few members of the dominant species who can intervene on behalf of a little fella like that

Cheers!

Great story. I wouldn't have known what to do with that little guy! I love hearing stories of people helping out the needy animals.

_________________
Wildlife/Bird Photographer
Canon 5D & Digital Rebel T1i
EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS USM, EF 70-200mm F4L IS USM, EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS
Kenko DG Auto Extension Tube Set - 36mm, 20mm, 12mm
My Photography: mydigitalmind : flickr

By strange coincidence since this afternoon I have a little patient too. When I was walking the dog I came across a Blackbird that was sitting at the edge of the pavement and was apparently hurt. I could stand right beside it and it didn't move When I bent over it almost let me catch it but it could still fly a little. It stayed on the ground though which meant it wouldn't survive the night because it would surely be caught by one of the many cats that are around. It was just mobile enough that I couldn't catch it with just my hands so I went home and collected a foldable fishing net that belonged to my father and went back. With that I managed to catch it quite easily and took it home in a little cardboard box.

I tried to find a local bird sanctuary but it turns out that especially on a Sunday it is not easy to find a place for it. So after several telephone calls it was decided I would keep it for the moment and observe how it goes. I've put it in a sort of plastic hamster cage about 60x80cm in size with a cover over it. I placed a little bowl with water in it and I've seen it drink from it a few times. I've also put some bread and a worm and a few woodlice I managed to find in the garden in the cage. I had found on the internet that it eats all these. And indeed it has eaten some of the bread and I have seen it eat the worm. The woodlice seem to have gone too.

I ate fish this evening and had checked whether it also eats fish and had read that indeed it catches small fish like sticklebacks so I had placed a small piece of fish in the cage too. It seems to have disappeared so that's another good sign. Now that it eats here it might be best not to move it to a sanctuary. I was told that they often have to resort to force feeding because birds won't eat in captivity there. As long as it eats and drinks it'll have the opportunity to heal. Time will tell.

I haven't taken any photos because I wanted to disturb it as little as possible in order to get it to eat. In the cage it's also not easy to get a good view of it that is not through plastic. It has a feather sticking out of its left wing at an unnatural angle and it has only one tail feather left. It may have hurt its leg(s) a bit too. I have no idea what has happened to it. Maybe a cat had gotten its claws on it and it had managed to escape.

The fact that it eats means it is doing better than expected so let's hope it keeps doing that.

Fingers crossed....


Ben

... what a cute little thing


... oh they grow up so fast ...





*BUUUURRRP*


... MORE BEER! ... NOW! ... HEY YOUR BLOCKING THE TV!



... ... ... ,
~ Sincerely

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kitties gone bad...lol....now if he was sitting there with some cheetos, that would make the whole scene...what a cute kitty...lol....love that he has the remote...



good one cheez...


patti

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canon 7D, Mark iii 5D, ef 70-300 f/4-5.6, ef 28-135mm canon 100-400mm L IS 4.5, and a little 24-70 L f/2.8...