Dear tweeters;
Last week while visiting Twin Lakes (a pothole lake in the Methow
Valley) I was approached by tourists with a baby bird in hand- it
turned out to be a newly hatched pied-billed grebe. The bird had
apparently swum right up to them as they stood on the shore- and
wouldn't leave; it's fluff was somewhat waterlogged.
The place was crawling with coots and at first I thought that's what
it was- I offered it by boat to several females in the area but they
were all pretty offended at the thought of nursing a grebeling.
We took it home; it ate earthworms voraciously for four days,
swimming around in a yogurt container; then in the span of an hour
grew listless and died (not from wet or cold).
Questions: Anybody know how to keep grebelings alive? And why would
a bird be hatching in mid-August? Last year I found a hatchling of
the same species in August dying at the edge of a lake, as if it
too had been abandoned.
I must comment on the great beauty and utter charm of this little
creature. Whatever reasons there may be for not intervening in the
lives of wildlife (it was my impression that the bird was abandoned
and would die soon if left at the lake), to have been able to
successfully raise and release that bird would have been a deeply
rewarding experience.
Thanks....
Dana Visalli