Baby Bullfinch

We always feed the garden birds and have a diverse bird population in our garden due to having woodland behind our garden. For the last few years we have had a few pairs of beautiful bullfinches visiting our feeders.

Yesterday there was a young bullfinch in the garden all day and we were able to get unusually close which isn’t a good sign.

Here is the young bullfinch in the rose

Most of the day it was on the path

We were able to get quite close to it and it seemed to have a problem with it’s beak and was struggling to try to eat the bits that had fallen from the feeders above. It was trying to eat the husks from the sunflower seeds that had been discarded from above.

I dropped some sunflower hearts nearby along with some crumbled meal worms and crumbled chicken pellets. The only thing it attempted to eat were one or two sunflower hearts. Knowing how quickly all the finches go through the sunflower seeds on our feeders we knew this wasn’t enough food to keep it going for very long.

When I went up to put the chickens to bed as it got dark we looked for it again and it was still on the path with it’s head tucked under it’s wing. It looked so cute but was so vulnerable. We knew it couldn’t sleep there as it would be taken during the night or at first light by the many cats we have around us.

We decided to bring it in for the night. We picked it up and put it in our egg basket on some shredded paper with a tea towel over the top.

In it’s bed for the night

We felt that if it was going to die in the night then it would be better to go, warm and safe indoors, than cold and vulnerable to cats outside. We put the basket in the bathroom in the dark and when we checked in on it a few times it was still breathing and was settled.

I rang the R.S.P.B. for advice and the lady who answered said that I had done the right thing and if it didn’t survive it would die with dignity. She said the R.S.P.B. were unable to help but that I should call Tiggy Winkles, the animal sanctuary.

I called them and got their answer phone which said that they were open twenty four hours for animals to be taken to them but their office phones would be answered at nine thirty in the morning.

I know from keeping chickens that the little bird will sleep during the hours of darkness so I decided to call Tiggy Winkles in the morning. For now our little bird could sleep in safety. I knew there was probably little chance of saving the little bird but I knew I would sleep better knowing it was safe and warm indoors rather than out on the path where it would be preyed upon in the morning if not before. If it didn’t survive it would have had a comfortable and safe night.

At eleven o’clock I checked on it and it was still sat in the same position and still breathing. I went to bed knowing that it was in the safest place for now.

First thing in the morning I checked in on it again and sadly it was laying on it’s side and no longer breathing.

Poor baby bullfinch

I knew the chances of saving it were next to nothing but at least it died warm and comfortable and safe. Outside on the path it would have been taken by a cat. As the lady at the R.S.P.B. said, we helped it to die with dignity. I know that many garden birds don’t survive but I feel sad for this beautiful poor little baby bullfinch. At least we know that we tried to help it, we did our best.