I had a baby mocking bird for a while, and let him go. He was very smart, and learned quickly. My cat got his nest mate, and it was too far gone to save, but Jake made it. I did feed him milk, but was on bread, so he would have the calcium, then I started feeding him a small amount of hamburger once in awhile, and meal worms, and some other kind of white fatty worm, from the pet store, and I would catch the Japanese beetles at night, and let him at them. He was pretty aggressive, and would very neatly behead them, and shuck the wing shells, and legs, and then chow down. When he was sitting on my arm one night as I was watching television, he suddenly flew up to the ceiling, and hovered, and snatched a bug, off the ceiling. That is when I knew he was ready to go out. I would put pieces of paper on the floor, and under some I would put a meal worm, or bug of some sort, and he would start hunting, by flipping the pieces of paper over, and finding a bug, or worm, he would devour it. He was a cute little booger, and would fly in through the kitchen pass through, into the living room, and then back out to the porch. He would act like a little baby bird, when he wanted food, he would squat down and fluff up, and squawk, and wiggle his tail feathers, and hold his mouth open. Well it worked, cause I fed him. I sure do miss that little guy. he would fly down from his perch on the hanging light on the Fla. room, and fly in through the sliding doors, and land on my arm, as I was on the computer, and snuggle up and go to sleep, on my arm. He never seemed to tire of leaving a little warm mass of gratitude on my arm, and I would always have a paper towel, or tissue handy, to wipe it off. Good for you Seminole, glad you helped it out. I am the same way with wild or domestic animals. I had a deer, that came up, with a grape fruit sized hole down to the bone, on her back at the shoulder blades, and her hind quarters raked, and the skin hanging down. She would hardly eat the corn, or cob (corn, oats, and barely) So I started buying carrots, and cabbage, and some deer chow for her, and stood guard with my sling shot, while she ate to keep the others from running her off. When I left to go back to Fla. she was completely healed over, and running the other deer off to get their food. I haven't seen back yet. Don't know if she is still alive or not, there was a HUGE mountain lion crossed in front of me as i was getting ready to turn into my drive way,a little while back. It was in no hurry, just kind of loped across the road, and into my property. A Friend of mine told me of a bone cache, not too far from my place, that is in some thick stuff. So it might be where this big ol boy takes his kills. There are a lot of lions around this area. Again good for you.
Wayne
