Watching a nestling die at 4am (trigger warnings and all that shit. Better do not read this, I guess)

[Lyn]

I found him at 9:30pm. It's a newborn nestling, maybe pigeon, I don't know. A really small one. No feathers, eyes sealed with some kind of membrane or something.
Lying on concrete, crawling, while ants were eating him alive...

I don't even know how long he had been there.
I removed the ants and put him in a container, with some cloths. Googled everything I could. I've put warm water under the box, tried giving a tiny bit of water on his beak. He seemed to absorb it. Or it was just a reflex... I really just don't know.
That's all I could do. Fuck, that was the ceiling of my power.
It's 4am now. He's on his back most of the time. He can't really hold a position. With every breath he moves his beak in small, fast, rhythmic movements. And the breathing is slow and... spasmodic probably.
I guess it's not a good sign. Saying it like there were any good ones...

Helplessness. Helplessness in being thrown in this shitty world and being sent to suffer and get eaten by ants since the first moments.
Helplessness in watching something fight maybe without even realising how it's fighting. And not being able to do anything meaningful.

He just still breathes. Moves his beak. Keeps existing somehow.
I can't fix the breathing. Can't feed him because he'd choke and because I don't have anything I could give to someone like him right now. Can't keep the water warm all night, although will try to make "his place" at least somewhat warmer for him. Can't call anyone at night (I tried...), nobody cares about a pigeon.

I can just watch and wait. And write about watching...
I don't know what this is about. The pigeon specifically or the fact that sometimes life just throws someone out of the nest and there's no one there and the ants come and you lie on your back and you move your beak and that's all you can do.
He'll probably be dead by morning.
And I'll have just been here. Watching. Not being able to save him. Not being able to stop the suffering. I just lessened it, may be. Or prolonged it...
I don't know.
And I don't know why I am even typing this. I'm just tired.
Oh god, how I want all this nature, life, all this world to just fucking come crashing down and never exist...

 

[Aknu132]

Knowing that all the pain life causes will only end in a billion years is sad, but at least it will end. When the sun grows bigger, all possibility of life will end.

 

[Reeincarnation]

You can feed a baby pidgeon grains, baby food, powdered milk mixed with water.

You need to keep the nestling warm or it won't be able to eat. If you are able to get a hold of a syringe you can use that to feed it (obviously without the needle).

Birds reject weak offspring, that is likely what happened or it fell off its nest, which I doubt.

Regarding your analogy, maybe you can find some peace in knowing you at least try instead of watch and do nothing about it, I hope it gets better for you

 

[peacebenow]

This is an incredibly moving and beautiful piece of writing.

 

[Forever Sleep]

It's so difficult to know what to do in such circumstances. Where I live, there seem to be more jackdaws around. I haven't noticed them here before. They keep flying rooftop to rooftop. The blackbirds are going nuts all the time because I assume they are nesting with young. With the jackdaw threat in the air and multiple cat threats on the ground, the poor things spend most of the day desperately tweeting at predators.

I've bought a sonic/ light strobe deterrent to try and scare away the cats but, there's not so much I can do about the jackdaws. I can't help but get the sense they are just waiting for these young birds to fledge and fall so they can kill and eat them.

Like you, it's like waiting for/ watching a horror show play out in nature. Even if it is just nature doing it's thing, it's a brutal reminder of how cruel life is. I hope your bird survives or passes peacefully.

 

[Thia]

Where are you located? If you are in the US there are some pigeon rescues scattered across the country (at least in NYC (Wild Bird Fund), Great Lakes area (Great Lakes Pigeon Rescue), and California (Palomacy)--probably others). UK (London Pigeon Rescue specializes in stringfoot but might know other orgs?) and Germany (the numerous stadttauben e.V.) too. Not sure about other countries.
The California pigeon rescue organization (Palomacy) runs a global Q&A help site on Facebook so you might have better luck posting there.

Be careful with water because it can get in the airway.

 

[whywere]

I am NOT EVER trying to ne mean, cruel or anything, but nature sometimes is nature and no matter how much effort, things go the way nature wants them to go.

I was raised way out in the boon docks, and have been around, wolves, coyotes, rattlesnakes, well an awful lot of nature's creatures, and growing up, I tried to help and raise a newborn critter when I would come across one, and 90% of the time, it would not survive no matter what. If I remember correctly, I saved some young owls BUT I would have to trap like small critters, like rats and mice to feed the young owls so that they survived and grew up.

It broke my heart and still does, however, at least in my thoughts, sometimes nature already has a plan and no matter what I try and do it is to no aval.

If the poor bird moves on, hopefully it passes peacefully and try and remember that your huge heart and love is always around to help, which makes you such a kind, caring and loving soul!

Walter