You have done a fantastic job. I salute you !!
This guy watching me work in the vegie garden today. Casually hanging around completely unfazed about an arms length away as I swung hammers and mattocks around and swore at inanimate objects.
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For those interested…a week later.
Little tacker lasted one night in the bucket and then at dusk Mum led her up the trunk of the tree to a nearby bow. It’s been there ever since. Mum’s still feeding her and if the birdshite below is any indication it’s not going hungry. Not sure if it’s a problem or serendipity but a vertical branch on the bow, visible in the pic below, means it’s not going anywhere unless it attempts to fly. Mum and Dad take off at dusk but zip back regularly to feed it…so far. It’s learning and has learned to stretch out and impersonate a twig when humans approach, but my gut feeling is it’s not nearly ready to take off yet and I hope the parents agree. If it comes down again we’ve decided we’ll try to pop it straight back on the bow and see what happens.
As I said previously, it’s very stressful. Our 5 year old grandson told his other Granny that it’s OK at present and he hopes it stays that way in a breathless voice…so the tension has spread. Last’s night’s spectacular thunder and lightning down this way woke me at 4 and then I didn’t go back to sleep because I was worried about the bloody chick. Stupid, I know, but what do you do. My better half keeps telling me Mum is an experienced parent and knows what she’s doing. Hope she’s right.
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Yep, I think your other half and mum frogmouth know what they’re about! The chick is pretty obviously still on the young side, just judging from the size and the fluffiness of the feathers. It’s out of reach of foxes etc now, so it can do some growing safely and in its own time, and it’ll fledge in the next month or two. Nice work taking care of it! 
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Don’t read on if like me you’re a pessimist who tends to get invested nevertheless.
Little tacker has been dominating the attention of her parents and my better half and me and things appear to be reaching critical level. It stayed in our backyard tree for a week and then started to parachute out 2 days ago at an alarming rate. She fluttered about and ended on the ground three times yesterday. When we rescued her from the ground yesterday afternoon we noticed she had one abnormal eye, it appears to be totally black and has no yellow iris. If you check the left eye in the earlier bucket photo you can see it has no yellow iris. Last night our neighbour noticed it had fluttered in incremental stages to the top of our 20 metre tree at dusk. And that was the last we saw of it…or so we thought. It wasn’t in the backyard tree this morning so we went looking for it in the back reserve but to no avail. Eventually we spotted the parents in a huge gum out the back but there was no sign of the chick and we sort of assumed the worst. Believe me, we looked everywhere, I wandered over again about 6 pm and noticed one of the parents was gone and the male was giving me the evil eye. When I looked around I saw guess who, little tacker on the ground staring up at an obviously stressed mum on a low branch. I’m assuming it had been hiding in the brush nearby. It can flutter after a fashion but it doesn’t seem to be able to launch from the ground and I don’t know about its vision. My better half picked her up and we placed her on a branch, fourth time in two days, and momentary safety. Mum resumed her station next to Dad and another day ensues. I took a few pics and I hope I’m wrong but the left eye appears completely closed. The back reserve is more problematic than our yard obviously but what can we do. We’ll check in morning, we’ve reached the stage where we have to, but I’m steeling myself for the worst. Please don’t tell me to let nature take its course, I’m way too invested to do that. The little bugger wants to fly and wont give up. The parents are amazing, they have clearly lost condition and are following it and protecting it to what seems like a bitter end. Forget the hype, Nature is a Bittch.
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Did that initially and they told us to just keep putting it back in the tree. Will try again if we spot it tomorrow.
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Don’t give up. Your doing a great job.
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Ok.
Think they’ll have a different reaction when you fill them in about the dead eye.
Don’t put too much emphasis on Wildlife Vic. They try hard, but the people answering the phones won’t necessarily be experienced with trickier cases.
Strongly advise you have a word to your local wildlife carer - especially if you’ve got one who specialises in birds (most suburban carers will deal with tawnies fairly routinely). They may be able to come out and have a look, or have a squiz at your photos and see if the eye needs treatment. Not sure where you are - I can recommend some names in the eastern suburbs of melb, or if you’re elsewhere in Vic I can probably find a name for you. PM me if you like.
Most carers though will be very reluctant to take a young one away from its parents when they’re obviously still around and paying attention. Aside from anything else, once it’s grown the parents can teach it to hunt better than we can. But they will certainly be able to advise you about what growth stage it’s at, when it can be expected to be able to fly under its own power, and whether there’s anything you can do to help the parents out in the meantime.
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We’re in Balnarring on the Mornington Peninsula and would appreciate any contacts if you have them.
Cheers
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I don’t personally know any shelters down that way, but WHOMP (Wildlife Help on the Mornington Peninsula) are loose umbrella organisation of shelters in the area, and they are really good people. Try dropping them a facebook message, or giving them a call. Make sure you tell them about the full situation - every wildlife organisation gets PILES of calls this time of year about young birds on the ground as they try to fledge, and most of them can safely be resolved by leaving the bird alone, so explain about the eye, maybe send a photo. That’s the bit I find most concerning, to be honest. Just looking at the photo, the chick is still maybe a bit too downy to fly properly so I’m not terribly worried about it being unable to get meaningfully airborne. Also remember that tawnies are generally nocturnal, so mum & dad are more likely to go down & help the chick out once it gets dark than during the day. It IS fledgling season and fledgling birds in general spend a lot of time sitting on the ground looking fluffy and confused. I assume the same is true for tawnies, though I’m not too experienced with them. But someone at WHOMP will be able to tell you what’s going on and what to expect better than I can. Bear in mind that the advice might be ‘sit tight, be confident’ or something along those lines. Watching a bird fledge can be like watching your 18yo with a brand new licence hop in the car and head off with his mates for the first time. You can’t guarantee the outcome, and meddling can be counterproductive.
Tell them Greg from Help For Wildlife recommended you call them, and that I was concerned about the eye.
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Cheers. If we find it tomorrow we’ll give it a go.
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Best of luck. Tawny’s are one of my favourite animals & I’ve rescued one myself (handed it over the Healesville sanctuary) so I’ve been following the story sharing your anticipation. I was dreading an update that a fox or feral cat had got to it. It certainly sounds like you need some help from experts after giving it as much as you can so hopefully HM’s contact is able to get the little guy sorted. Thanks again for sharing.
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Junior’s had a day and a half. We contacted the carer at WHOMP, as suggested by HumbleMinion, and although initially basically recommending we “sit tight” she changed her view when we detailed the eye situation and told us to take it to a vet for a check up and return it to the parents if the vet approved. Junior appeared on a fence post next door at about three, having spent the day hiding somewhere, and when my better half picked her up her left eye was closed. The vet in Hastings did a great job, for no charge I might add, thoroughly examining the eye and seeking further advice. She said it was basically born with a smaller eye and after quite a bit of gentle prodding determined it wasn’t in pain or suffering from infection and believed it may have some sight. It did open the dark eye in the clinic and my hope is it is closing the eye due to sensitivity to daylight and will have fewer issues at night. The vet added that even with limited sight it was still capable of functioning in the wild and to return it to the parents. This we have done.
I was amazed at how easily the chick traveled, it appeared to fall asleep, and the docile manner it adopted in the hands of the vet. The vet said tawnies were good patients in her experience.
Thanks for the support and advice, with special thanks to HumbleMinion.
Fingers remain crossed.
In safe hands.
Back it goes.
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Great work @GRR, glad it all looks to be on track. Keep us updated with junior’s progress
Also great work to your vet. Vets are divided into two groups when it comes to wildlife in my experience, the awesome and the arseholes. Really sounds like you got one of the former!
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You and the Better Grr are Superstars !! Love your dedication and persistence. Good luck
A mate of mine lives in a small apartment with a very small balcony replete with an even smaller planter box on said balcony.
Recent new addition to his household:
Couple of eggs in there somewhere.
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Oh and also said mate has a (slightly odd) cat.
Bird stares down cat for multiple hours every day.