Ever wondered why the central heating makes such a racket? Ever considered what might be the other side of the wall ? Steve Mundy sent us in this amazing story.
"It all started when I heard a noise behind the kitchen cupboard. No sooner had I pulled the elbow out of the pipe going from my stove vent to the outside when 3 recently hatched Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) fell into the cupboard. I figured the mother would not be able to get to them, so I ran over to the store and bought some bird formula, a syringe and with a fish tank air hose injected the formula into the birds.
When I opened the cupboard a little later, the mother bird having relocated her offspring, squawked in my face, then jumped up the pipe and went outside. I thought she would then take care of them inside the cupboard, but later I heard her inside my walls ! I could not get to her without taking off a power outlet and then creating a hole big enough for her to come through. I finally managed to release her whereupon the chase round the house started. Needless to say she never returned once we finally caught up with her and released her outside.
Since then I have been feeding these birds every couple of hours, except at night when they sleep. They appear very comfortable on the formula. I think they are now ready to fly and I am not sure if I should be starting to feed them on grubs and worms or whether they will soon be old enough to work that out for themselves.
I have been feeding them for over a week now and they are now tame enough to be picked up. I guess I will soon need to release them but have not had experience of this and wonder about the dangers of the outdoors.
