Originally published for Members Only June 3 2026

The next few days were busy - trying to figure out what to feed a hungry young starling. I already had an inkling from my experience of raising Beaker. Yes, I could buy a bunch of worms and crush them up but mashed up pate cat food with a bit of water worked very well. Birds need the taurine that is in cat food.

I also had to figure out what I was going to keep them in - yes I have an extra bird cage but that was not suitable - they could not perch yet and with no feathers, they needed to be near a hot water bottle to keep them warm.

What was I going to do with them if I had to go out? With Beaker, I had a built in Beaker-sitter, someone to feed her if I had to be gone for more than 20 minutes. I had to come up with a container that could keep them safe.

Food - Google told me that I should add in a hard boiled egg yolk to the cat food as well as calcium carbonate to help the bones grow.

Habitat - I use an old metal cake pan that fits a 500ml water bottle on a diagonal - it would not roll over and crush little Gonzo. Metal can be sterilized which is vital because little birds poop a lot.

I had plenty of rags to line it with, enough to change them out and wash when they got soiled, I also put in a paper towel to catch most of it.

I put the hot water bottle covered with a rag in the pan and Gonzo snuggled up to it - I covered it with a tea towel and put it in a cupboard at night. I was not going to take any chances of it falling down or CB getting to it.

For going out I had a bag that stood up by itself but the pan would not work as it was too shallow; Gonzo could easily fall out.

I solved that problem with an ice cream bucket - I the ice cream in a square bucket (buy Canadian!). Plastic is easy to sterilize. The temperature outside on May 28 was around 30C so no hot water bottle necessary. 🙂

Now the hard work began - not only was Gonzo eating 2-3 times each hour from sunrise to sunset (6am - 8pm), but they needed the hot water bottle changed every two hours.

(I am still sleep deprived. Maybe this was a bit much to take on but I am a sucker for small helpless creatures. It was only for a few weeks until they could eat on their own, I can suck it up.) NO, I will NOT rescue any other nestling birds, I have my hands full with Gonzo!

Starlings are not native to North America, very few rescue agencies will take them. Not everybody loves them, they can be messy, noisy, aggressive and invasive.

I do love their iridescent plumage as well as watching the murmurations.