Fledgeling Update

May 18, 2012

The fledgling that fell out of the nest yesterday was taken by Deborah Starr, a parent in ECCCharles who is a vet, to Tufts Wildlife Rehabilitation center today. She agreed with Ms. Kavanaugh that the leg is not in great shape, but is confident that the youngster will be in good hands. 

Meanwhile, the other two robins seemed quite content to remain in the nest today. It was warm on the fire escape, so the nestlings seemed to cool down by keeping their beaks open in order to regulate their body temperature. Ms. Pandit also reported that she saw one of them try to catch an insect that flew by.

 At Meeting this morning in ECCBrimmer, we told the following story about yesterday's dramatic developments with the fledgelings:

Yesterday, when we arrived to school we noticed that the robins had grown quite big and and were barely fitting in the nest.  One was moving toward the edge and raising its body up and trying to move. It looked like it had been having trouble moving its foot.  Mr. Rogers had taught us that sometimes its best to just watch and not do anything right away.  The problem with the nest at school is that the mama bird built her nest in the city, next to a building that is full of humans.  All of the people want to do what they think is best for the bird and the mama bird wants to do the best for her babies as well. Ms. Mulrooney noticed that one of the baby bird's foot was tangled in a piece of plastic.  Plastic is something that is not made from nature. It is something that people make and it is a hard thing to throw away because it does not go back into the earth.  The mama bird thought it would be something good to build her nest with, but the plastic is stronger than a piece of grass and it had become very tangled around the baby bird's foot.  We made a decision to cut that piece of plastic so that the bird could go free.  Ms. First went out and cut that piece of plastic to free the bird.  The bird flew down to the ground and landed on its feet.  Ms. Pandit cleared the playground, as many kids were out at recess at the time.  The baby bird hopped around on the ground and the mama bird came over to feed it.  As it turns out, the baby bird's leg was very hurt and it was having a hard time moving around. When Mr. Rogers and Ms. Kavanagh arrived, Ms. Kavanagh determined that the bird needed some help.  She took the bird home with her and began to look for a wildlife rehabilitation facility where experts can help wild animals get well. The important thing is that the bird gets the help that it needs so that it can return to the wild. The other two baby birds appear to be doing well and are still in the nest. 

The children had many questions. We answered their questions as honestly as we could!

Bella:  My brother thinks the leg got cut off. She (Ms. Kavanagh) took it home and then she is going to let it go.

Charlotte S:I have some bird eggs in my house and they are all around my plants. 

Ahmed: I know that one of the birds that had the plastic on it, broke its leg. It think it was hopping around on the structure and it went on the monorail!

Mariella: Why can't it just stay where it is and we can just take care of it? How did the bird get the plastic on it?

Ben: We don't even know what the bird likes. 

Chase:  My sister told me that you (Ms. First) cut the cord. We have to pick up plastic to help the earth.

Caleb: The scissors can cut the plastic very gently. Is laying eggs private?

Zoe: What would the mama bird think when she saw the baby fall to the ground? How did you climb out to the fire escape?

Charlotte L:Why did Ms. Panda say that everyone needed to come off the playground?

Anshul: My mom had a picture of the eggs and the birdies.When I was walking to my old school, I saw a robin got caught in a balloon, but an airplane hit the balloon and the bird is free.

Bibi: My brother told me that one of the science teachers got the bird with the broken leg. Is the leg broken?

Kate: There has to be a kind of bird that can be a pet.  It can't just be a bird that's outside.

Jack:  My sister told me that the leg got loose. 

Bruce: My brother told me that Ms. Kavanagh brought the fourth bird to the science class.

Tallulah: How did the toes get tangled in the plastic?

Several children said that they would like to clean trash up from the playground to make sure that birds would not use it in their nests, so that's what we did. We hope that the remaining fledgelings enjoy the quiet of the playground over the weekend to hop around and learn to fly!

Ms. Pandit's office is up here. The red, those are the bricks. The black part is the gate that's protecting it from predators. ~Mariella