Cranberry wrote:
I talked to some bird people and they told me not to release it because it's not native, that it would just add one more bird to the problem, so I guess it's going to be a pet..
Cran, this is a popular comment from "bird people." They somehow think that every non-native bird they can exterminate is going to help somehow.
Frankly, if it wasn't illegal for them to go around bashing non-native species with clubs, each and every one of them would be doing it. Happily.
These birds are here, they're here now, they're here everywhere, and nothing anybody can do will get rid of them. The collection includes English sparrows, starlings, pigeons, an assortment of psittacines, and God only knows what else.
They didn't just fly in yesterday. They've been here a long, long time and they're EVERYWHERE.
"But they take food away from native species!" the bird do-gooders say. Well, you know what? They do. But there isn't a bird-do-gooder in the country that isn't living in a home built on land that used to support native species, but now cannot because the trees, the grasses, and everything else were stripped from it. And here, all those houses interfere with the water flow, which has ruined nesting areas and food supplies everywhere else.
Drive by their homes here and you'll see lovely green pesticide-drenched lawns, fuel-guzzling SUVs, chlorinated swimming pools, and an Orkin man busily killing everything that managed to live long enough to get up to the front door.
Do you really think that one little starling is going to have that much impact? Probably a heck of a lot less impact than one bird-do-gooder's annual automobile emissions, sewage output, garbage load, and pesticides.
If you are not in a position to care for that bird from now until the day it dies a natural death--possibly YEARS--then you should not begin keeping it now. Do not think that you can find someone to care for it later. They are far more likely to kill it or toss it outdoors, where it will be unable to survive after having been indoors with you.
Please put that bird outside
quickly, so that it can learn to fend for itself and while it has a chance of being able to learn to socialize normally with its kind. You're not doing it, or nature, any favors keeping it.
Think about how miserable a life it's going to have in a cage. Would you want that for yourself? And then think about how irritated you are that it won't shut up.
It is NEVER going to shut up, Cran. NEVER. That's what birds do--they make noise. A lot of noise. If it irritates you now, it's only going to get worse.
Please, you did a nice thing by rescuing the bird, but you need to put it back outside now that the weather has gotten better. It'll be fine if you do that. Keeping it, when you are not prepared to take care of it, will condemn it to a life of misery. It deserves to have a life with other birds, with friends, and with mates. Please let it go.
