Flying Diaries- Phoenix

A Phoenix rises from the ashes…

QBN

A few days before Malteaser died (look in my last bird blog to get more info about Malteaser my magpie), we had been called about a baby wattlebird by Fauna Rescue, but we had said we couldn’t take it because we already had Malty. But then sadly Malty didn’t make it (RIP Malty) and the baby wattlebird still had no one to look after him, so we came and picked him up.

I opened the box, and I could see a fluffy adorable mini wattlebird peering up at me, making the cutest little chitt-chitt-chitt noises.

I decided to name him Phoenix because (remember the quote at the top of the page? if not, go back and read it)

We left him in my room in the box that night, and then I think we put him in the little cage for a while, but soon he mastered that and started trying to get out, so we decided to move him to the aviary, and as soon as he got THERE he was unstoppable, hopping around all over the place, enjoying this new sense of freedom.

It was pretty easy feeding him, wattlebirds are nectivores and insectivores, and we had a teat pipette to feed him with. He was very greedy, and would suck determinedly at the nectar mix until he was full, and then he would sit and digest for a while, then leap up and on the move again.

He had absolutely no injuries we could see on him, so he must of been one of those babies that tried to fledge too early, or was simply lost or unwanted by his mother, though I think wattlebirds leave their young to fend for themselves at a surprisingly young age.

Phoenix quickly started growing up, and developed new hobbies. Whenever it was feeding time, he would let us know by beating against the walls of the aviary wildly chirping whenever we came outside. And as soon as I came IN, he would launch himself at me, wings flapping, and land on me. He would grab the nectar mix from the teat pipette/pop stick ferociously, but he didn’t seem to know he was meant to suck, not bite.

We tried putting some native flowers in so he could have a go at eating by himself, but we rarely saw him venture towards them, preferring to shriek his head off at us until we fetched the teat pipette for him to suck from.

Around this time, we got ANOTHER call from Fauna Rescue. Surprisingly, it was another wattlebird! We pondered about whether to take it, though, because wattlebirds are extremely bossy and territorial, and we weren’t sure how Phoenix would react to another bird in his precious aviary.

In the end, we decided to take it, because since Phoenix was young, we hoped he wouldn’t be a bully if they grew up together for a while.. We put the little one in the smaller cage at first, then put the smaller cage in the aviary so Phoenix could get used to him. Phoenix seemed OK with the bird, in fact was ignoring him completely!!! Eventually I went in the aviary and took the bird out and placed it next to Phoenix to see what he would do.

At first he kept on ignoring it, but I kept watching and saw the little bird start to leap around. He made his way straight to Phoenix and then, tried to hop straight over him but landed straight on top of him, sending them both crashing towards the ground!!!!! Luckily I managed to catch the little guy, and Phoenix was big enough to get a good landing by himself.

It wasn’t a good start for them, but they grew to grudgingly get along (Phoenix could be a bit snappy at mealtimes if I didn’t feed him first, and they would cheep to each other with their little chitt-chitt-chitt noises)

We never properly named little guy. We would call him by many names though, from simply referring to him as “the little bird” to mostly calling him “Little bro”, and whenever we were calling him that, Phoenix was called “Big bro”

Sadly, as the summer progressed with Catastrophic fire danger days and desperately hot weather, “Little bro” died of heatstroke.

I can’t say Phoenix seemed to miss his temporary little brother very much, but the cage must have seemed a lot emptier and quieter without him.

We worried about Phoenix getting heatstroke too, but he remained visibly healthy, tough, and as bossy as usual. He was almost an adult now, and was FINALLY starting to sometimes suck at flowers and nibble at ants on his own. The only problem was, we didn’t know where his birthplace was because the people who had found him and taken him to the vet didn’t leave any details.

We decided we would just have to release him at home…

Hey Bird Nerds, thanks for reading, (If you still are) I have decided to break this story up into two bits because its so long, Part two (The Release) will hopefully come this week, if not, next week. Take care with the coronavirus, hope everyone is ok. Her Royal Highness, QueenBirdNerd, signing off*

*Of course, I’m not actually the Queen, but I am queen of my own “royal” blog! :p