Wildlife Woes

[Stacy]

Do you ever wish for just one moment that you didn't have dogs? I mean, I love the dogs like they're my kids. I wouldn't be able to survive life without dogs. Because of that I think sometimes I forget that they aren't in fact little children in fur suits. But then they do something that makes me remember...

 

My love of animals extends to all my backyard friends. I’m the critter girl.

Sometimes the squirrels drive me nuts when they dig up my flowers. But they’re so cute when they play together. They tease the dogs and they always make me laugh when they yell at us. I know there are a few chipmunks around here, though I rarely see them, but the rabbits seem half tame. They let me walk right up to them before they run off. I want the girls to love the furries they share the yard with, but instead they love to eat them. When I chose doodles prey drive was not one of the boxes I was trying to check off.

 

In the last week Ava came to the door with a squirrel tail hanging out of her mouth like it was a literal toy. Now, that squirrel wasn’t freshly dead. So I think it died of other causes and Ava just found it. (That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.) Then it stormed last week and Katie found a baby bird that she snuck into the house and proudly took to my bed. And tonight is the worst. The absolute worst.

 

Here it is, midnight. I just got home from work. It was a busy evening. I fed the girls and we went outside. I was minding my own business scrolling through facebook on the porch when I hear this… crying. It didn’t register for a second, but then I realized, oh no the girls have something. The next thing you know I’m running around the backyard barefoot, by the light of my cellphone flashlight screaming like a lunatic. I can only imagine that my neighbors think I’m insane.

 

I see Ava drop something and I called her to come with me, and then I found Katie and I saw another one. And I’m begging them to come back inside with me. They were actually pretty cooperative considering how excited they were with their find.

 

I got them into the screen porch and was about to go look for the problem when I realize that the crying is now coming from inside with the dogs. I couldn’t see anything, but it only took a second to figure out that the crying was coming from inside Ava’s mouth. I pulled her mouth open and a baby bunny fell out.

 

A teeny tiny baby bunny that was still naked. It nuzzled into my hand and shirt like I was it’s mommy. I’m pretty sure that I’m in love with this bunny and want it to have a spot in the bed with the dogs. It was pretty active and it didn’t have any visible injuries. I made the girls stay inside while I’m out searching the backyard – again, by cellphone light. I managed to find the nest, and the second baby bunny that didn’t fare as well. I took that one out and put the one that seemed okay back into the nest. It burrowed back in. I didn’t see more, but maybe there were siblings in there for it to cuddle with – I didn’t want to disturb them if they were there. It’s like Operation Wildlife over here. I think there should be a version of 911 for animals. I would have called it an ambulance. But since there isn’t, I hope I did the right thing. I hope the mommy comes back. I wanted to keep it, but I’m pretty sure I am ill equipped to keep a newborn bunny alive.

 

Now the dilemma is that the dogs know they’re there. How am I going to ever keep them away from that nest? And why on earth would the bunny pick my yard to have her babies? My nextdoor neighbor has a perfectly good yard and no pets to go on a bunny killing spree. I feel like I’m harboring two felons. Do I need to turn them in for assault? I keep telling them how naughty they are, but I’m pretty sure they think I’m telling them that they’re pretty.

 

I accept the dogs for who they are. I know these are the things that dogs do (but for the record, Papillons do not do things like this!) I just wish someone would explain to them that they are supposed to act more like little furry people and less like murdering heathens. I’m not sure how much backyard homicide I can take!!

Does anyone else have this issue? Better yet, has anyone else solved this issue? I feel like they need a class in loving their neighbors. I also wonder if we had a bunny of our own that the dogs would understand that it was part of the family and they couldn’t hurt it. Because now I really want a bunny to join our family!

 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

My neighbor has a schnauzer/Lab mix who caught & killed a bird as it flew out of a little tree in my backyard. If I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have believed it. Talk about high prey drive. 

[F, Calla & Luca]

My two do not do age discrimination. Adults, babies all will do.

[Amy and Annabelle]

I have a Hibiscus plant, that a bird has decided to make her nest in. It is sitting on my patio. There are 3 cute little blue eggs in the nest. I don't know my birds that well. What bird is small and lays blue eggs? Maybe a starling, who knows. Annabelle would love nothing more than to stick her nose in there. As if I don't have enough to worry about with human and animal family, now I am worrying about a birds nest. I worry about it getting too much rain, or the wind knocking it over, or a possum coming in the yard and eating the eggs. We do have a fence at least.So other than bunnies that find their way in, we don't really have a problem with anything else. 

A few weeks ago Annabelle got into a little scrapping fest with a small bunny. Luckily there was a fence between them. The darn bunny got half way up the fence before I scared it off and it jumped down and ran off into the woods.

[Stacy]

I think Robins have blue eggs. It will be really cool if you see the babies. But I'm with you. Just another life to worry about. I tried to save some starlings last year that had fallen out of a tree, but I think the possum ended up killing them. I was sad, but at the same time I was at peace with the fact that I did my best to help them. It's not like we need any more starlings. I think everything deserves the opportunity to live. Except spiders when they're in the house. They're fine if they are outside, but when they come in they are fair game.

[Amy and Annabelle]

Don't think there will be any babies now. The nest is totally empty. No eggs, no shells, no baby birds, no mama, just a small empty nest. I think the bird was a house finch.

Here is the nest.

[Stacy]

That's such a bummer. It would have been fun to watch the babies. It's a pretty nest. It makes me sad for the mama, she must have worked so hard to build that.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Robins lay small blue eggs, and three sounds about right. Their nests are also pretty small, and the young females are also pretty small. Starlings typically nest fairly high off the ground (minimum 10 ft) and they prefer enclosed nesting areas. 

This article has a photo of a robin's nest in a potted plant: http://www.sialis.org/blueeggs.htm

[Amy and Annabelle]

Well that's what the eggs look like. Must be a young robin that made the nest. She is pretty small. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I have two robins' nests on my property right now. One's on the top of the 4 ft. chain link fence in the dog run, and one's in a bush right next to my front porch. Robins are much better mothers than rabbits.

[Amy and Annabelle]

Funny story about a baby bird. Probably 20 years ago we had a big storm. Lots of wind, rain, thunder and lightning. After it was all over I went outside to see tree limb damage. I found a featherless little baby bird on the sidewalk. It was still alive. The internet wasn't what it is now. So no googling "caring for baby birds". I brought it in, put it in a little box with padding and set it on the kitchen table. I turned on the light overhead to keep it warm. My plan was to feed it with a dropper, but first I had to go take care of my sisters house and cats while she was on vacation. My husband and I drove over and were gone maybe an hour. We get back home and I immediately go check on my baby bird. It was gone, it was a mystery. Pretty soon I see a bird fly by me in the kitchen, certainly not as small as I remember. It somehow also grew feathers. I'm thinking, gosh, we were only gone an hour. This bird was probably 4 or 5 times bigger than the baby I brought in. It was hard for me to believe it was the same bird. It found a nice little perch on top of my living room drapery rod. We finally were able to get it to fly outside. 

[Christine]

Hi! My mini goldendoodle does the same thing. She chases anything that comes in the yard. We had our first baby bunny experience last summer, and then again this summer. So what I did was get a laundry basket, cutting an opening into one side for the bunny mom to access it, but to prevent Nala from getting in there. I put it upside down over the nest to protect the babies. The first time the bunny nest was right in the middle of the lawn, so the basket helped protect the bunnies from the landscapers as well. We wrote on top so they would know bunnies were in there. Momma bunnies come to nurse twice only, at dusk and dawn. So you many think they aren't tended to, but they are. The babies did great and all was well. Once the babies were coming out, we kept Nala in until they were faster than her. Lol. This year the bunny nest was tucked in a bush, and Nala came to me with a baby in her mouth. She didn't hurt it. I picked up the baby and put it back, and took out that laundry basket again. You can touch the bunnies to put them back, mom won't mind. Again, all bunnies made it out safely and some still pass through and the chase is on. They are all too quick for her. This March Miss Nala came to me with a hairless creature. I had no idea what it was. There were 2. I googled it. Baby squirrels. Fell out of a nest from a tree. Too high to put back. Called a rescue and both squirrels have been raised and were just released back to the Wild. Compliments of Nala. I would have never seen them so she kind of saved their lives...lol. Tonight Nala ran by with a birds nest in her mouth! Not her fault. Blew out of a nest. But she sure keeps me busy! Thought I would share as I can totally relate! Christine.

[Christine]

Trying to upload a picture of the bunnies with the basket over them. At this point they were almost ready to hop away. Also a picture of the squirrels because they are too darn cute. Christine