New Baby

I got myself a new bird today. It’s only a baby and probably one of the ugliest birds I have ever seen.

There are two types of bird babies in the world, precocial; the pretty, cute, fluffy, endearing ones, and altricial; the helpless, ugly, smother-it-at-birth, useless, needs-to-be-fed-by-it’s-parents-for-weeks type.

Precocial babies are like the chickens and ducks we are so familiar with. They can stand, feed, run, and in the case of ducks and other waterfowl, even swim soon after hatching. These precocial babies need to “imprint” on their parents and siblings straight away so they can recognise them, stay with them and hopefully not get lost as they search for food.
This group of birds are hatched with their eyes open and are covered with a heavy growth of down to keep them warm until their feathers grow. If these babies are hand-reared by humans they see the human as their parent straight after hatching and will follow him or her everywhere, clambering over, through or around obstacles so as not to let their “parent” out of sight. Very soon after they leave the eggshell they dry off and are up and about as a family, leaving the nest site and head off in search of food and shelter.

Ostriches, rheas and emus are precocial, as are most grass eating birds and this of course makes perfect sense; they are up and away under the protection of the parents instead of waiting around for the parents to return to them after spending hours feeding.
Deer, elephants and antelopes do the same; no hanging around waiting for mammy’s return, better to be up within a matter of hours and away with her so she can look after the babby and feed at the same time.

Humans (and all the other apes) on the other hand are altricial. There is no way these pink, furless babies are going anywhere in the immediate future. Take my friends baby for instance. Such a useless lump of lard; crapping where he lies, can’t even stand up with or without assistance and spends his day sleeping or calling out for more food when he knows his mammy is about.

Some birds use this technique too. The whinge-‘til-you-get-fed-technique, and it works. All the birds of prey use this method as it would be impossible for them to hunt effectively with a load of babies in tow. Better to leave them behind in a nest and await the return of parents with food. Pigeons and other foraging birds like finches, sparrows and crows all belong to this group. Their eyes are closed when they hatch and they are completely naked, depending on the brooding parents to keep their body temperature regulated.
The reason altricial birds eyes do not open until they have grown up a bit is quite a simple one; there is just no point. Take hawks, finches or thrushes for example, while their parents are out foraging it would be a disaster if their hungry babies begged food off every passing bird or moving shadow. They would be prey to crows within the hour. Better to be blind and silent until the right mother comes along.
Wolves, dogs, cats and many other animals use this technique too. It is safer for their babies to be helpless for longer instead of exploring outside the den too soon where danger lies with a hungry eye and no mercy.

So back to me and mine. I got myself an ugly, bald, helpless altricial baby bird. It’s a blue and gold macaw whose beak is far too big for is head, its head is far too big for its body and it has enough spare skin to make a pair of moccasins. Its bottom beak is like a bucket into which I pour a few spoonfuls of special baby formula every few hours, and its crop when full makes him look like a big pink ugly squidgy bullfrog. He is nearly four weeks old now and the feathers are just starting to show through the skin, so the transformation from ugly duckling to a beautiful bird has begun.

It should be interesting watching him grow, training him and hopefully flying him without any mishaps.
Wish me luck, as I need to go now and mix up his formula and feed and change him!

Tommy Byrne