Meet Buddy. Buddy is a baby bird of unknown type*, who managed to fall out of his nest which is located about 3 stories up in a palm tree. Hanna discovered him yesterday afternoon sitting under the tree and picked him up, only to drop him when he started to scream. There was no way to replace him in his nest, and he seemed to be prime snacking material for a cat or dog, so I brought him home and googled "caring for a baby bird". I had all the ingredients at home for making baby bird food - dry dog food moistened with water, apple sauce and hard boiled egg - so made some up to see if I could get him to eat.

At first I figured that I could at least give the little thing a warm place to die, but he's hanging in there. He's quite pleased when between the two of us we manage to get him a gullet full of food, and he made it through the night. Hopefully I can find some wildlife rehab place to take him in, but until then, I keep thinking of that children's book - "Are you my mother?"

* I have figured out that Buddy is a European Starling, and about 10 days old. As luck would have it, the baby bird food I found the recipe for online is specifically designed for starlings.