The other day, while sitting out the front conversing with my husband, a tragedy befelled my wildlife family.
There Les and I were, sitting quietly and enjoying the peaceful moments of a cigarette break (allow me one vice), when I suddenly realised something was wrong. Behind me, there was a lot of squawking going on, which isn’t unusual for our magpies. I thought nothing of it at first.
As I continued to sit there, out of the corner of my eyes, I could see our regular group of magpies dancing around, and really crying out. They were trying to get my attention by bobbing around, flapping their wings and squawking as loudly as they could.
I turned my head in the direction they were wanting me to look, and that’s when I saw it. The youngest magpie had been caught by the neighbours cat, a truely horrible sight for an animal lover to see.
I yelled ‘NO!’ at the top of my voice, dropped cigarette and cuppa (ok, placed them down) and pounded down the front stairs and over to the fence that seperates us from the neighbours.
I wasn’t quick enough! The white cat gripped my baby bird even more firmly and then bolted with it as I reached even further over the fence in a vain attempt to rescue the magpie (and I nearly lost my balance too, though didn’t care). The cat ran off with the bird, feathers flying everywhere and the strangled cries of its victim slowing. The bird was dying.
Our neighbours aren’t particularly nice people, and I wasn’t going to risk a tresspassing charge, which could see me losing my family, so I had to let the magpie go.
I was heartbroken, holding back tears and sobs, at what had 
happened. All my life, I have been a ‘friend’ to the birds (and any other wildlife that comes a calling) and I couldn’t save this one little darling (who was a rather naughty bird).
The rest of the magpie group hung around a few minutes more, and then they disappeared. For several days, they stayed away, and I’ve wanted to cry every time I go outside because they just haven’t been there. My ’shadows’ were gone, flown off to mourn the loss of their child, sibling and possible future mate. Me, I wish I could have gone with them, as looking towards the neighbours was filling me with anger.
The irresponsible cat ownership of our neighbours has cost the wildlife much since they moved in about 3 months ago. Birds feathers have been floating around their yard, evidence of the murderous crimes commited on their side of the fence.
The cats themselves do not appear to be well cared for at all, the flea population in our house is evidence of that (and we don’t have any flea hosts as pets). They are scrawny and wild looking, and even allowed to breed (actually, the neighbours have an undesexed male and 2 undesexed females) out of control. Currently, there are 3 adult cats and about 4 kittens over there at the moment. They are either kept locked in a cage under the house or tied to a tree outside. Either way, not the best for them.
I hold the neighbours respsonsible for the death of my magpie friend. It is their lack of care of their animals that has cost me a dear friend (or is that fiend? Not entirely sure which). They are accessories after the fact, and I wish they could be charged with it so that maybe more cat owners would heed the warning and start taking responsibility of their animals. Possums and birds need our protection, not our predation.
Today, the magpies were back. Somber and quiet, but back all the same. They just sat in the trees looking as miserable as could be, and I wanted to hug them. Probably not the best thing to do, considering they are wild birds and have sharp beaks and claws, but they did look as though they were in need of comfort. Hopefully, they will be back to their regular schedule of visiting soon, as I miss them when they aren’t here.
Well, I do say in my title that a finch came looking for help. Ok, so it seems that way to me. I had just finished cleaning out the cockatiel’s cage and was emptying the vacuum cleaner (and dropped the filter in the bottom of the bin) when out of the corner of my eye, I spot something fluttering and bobbing amongst the grass clippings under the back stairs.
Well I never, it was a gorgeous little finch! Clearly this adorable orange beaked bird wasn’t able to fly, or it would have done so when I first came down, so bird carer me took a closer look and asked Les for a towel (I wasn’t going to let the neighbours cat have another victory on my watch!).
This darling little finch was easy to catch, but not easy to find a
temporary home for. A clear, plastic storage box is a temporary shelter, with a cardboard roof. Naturally, water, seed, perches and a hidy box have been provided too.
A closer examination reveals that one foot has been clean cut off. Not sure when it happened, but it looks recent (maybe the last couple of weeks). Some of the flight feathers along one wing are a bit busted up too, but that could be because the bird was someone’s pet and that wing was clipped (to prevent escape- not sure it worked though).
Now, Les loves finches. We have been saving to get him a suitable cage to keep his own little feathered flock. Fate once again seems to be telling us that this is going to happen sooner rather than later. I guess I will be sacrificing my purple budgie cage for a while, but I don’t mind.
This little finch is going to be well looked after, provided he makes it through the next few days. His cage has space to fly about properly and we are going to put Arna-grown greenery into the bottom for foraging purposes (I already do this for the cockatiels), natural perches from the native trees around us, and a little hidy corner (possibly a special nesting box). Yes, another spoilt bird to add to the growing collection (just call us Mr and Mrs Featherbrain).
Naturally, I will be calling WIRES (the local bird caring group) in the morning and asking them what should be done, or should I say, letting them know that we have taken an injured wild finch into our home and intend to provide suitable housing for the life of the bird (returning said bird to the wild isn’t going to be an option because of the missing foot). Not much they can do that I’m not doing already, but they are bound to be full of helpfull advice.
So while I was unable to save one little feathered friend, I am currently looking after another one. He seems to be happy in her ‘intensive care box’ at the moment, and has stuffed himself on seed which has made him quite sleepy (what an appetite he has!). I hope that the balance has now been restored and that as far as the animal kingdom is concerned, I have redeemed myself.
Resources used:
Magpie photos taken from the Wikipedia: Australian Magpie - viewed Sunday 8 March 2009
Finch photos taken from the Wikipedia: Zebra Finch - viewed Sunday 8 March 2009
Thank you to the users and contributors of Wikipedia for their hard work, which makes my ‘work’ just that little bit easier.