Spirulino our rescued sparrow and friends

EDITED January 2014

by Diana Studer
- gardening for biodiversity

Found at the recycling depot in January 2010. The Ungardener has been helping to sort at the town’s fledgling recycling project. There he saw a little bird hopping around. He brought him food and water. But he sees there is something wrong with his wing. He cannot fly. When the door was open, out he hopped to the open field.  Not sure if the wing is broken. Or something attacked and injured him. He brought him home. He is a commonorgarden house sparrow. Invasive from Europe. Our bird book says they were first seen in Piketberg in 1962.

Spirulino's home

By day we put him in the shade of the mountain ash trees. And our garden sparrows came over to say hi, who are you, and what ARE you doing in there??? Synchronicity caused the Ungardener to bump into someone who was chatting about growing tomatoes. My organic gardening books say plant basil. Oh and this bird, needs a cage. New friend has an old cage, and Spirulino has a new home.

The Ungardener has put in four twiggy perches for him. Went straight to the top perch. From where he hawks tiny insects, clinging to the bars of the cage, like an acrobat. The dinner monitor, has had to be taught, with a water spray, that, that is OUR bird. Chocolat lies languidly on the branch, like a leopard, and waves one paw at us, hullo, howzit? Unless, we have the water spray, when he appears in a blur at our feet. Cat in the tree? Sure wasn’t me!

Then there was the fiscal shrike. Black and white, somewhat larger than him. They have the ‘charming’ habit of catching lizards. And if not hungry right now, will impale the lizard on a convenient thorn tree or barbed wire fence. And an equally ‘charming’ territorial habit of treating caged birds the same way, if, they can get at them. But his visitors are mostly friendly. Our garden sparrows, the sunbirds who spend most of their time hawking insects in the ash trees, and of course the weavers. Doves, pigeons and starlings. Swallows high above in the evening.

Young, but not a baby. Grew into his black cock sparrow bib, but sadly one wing has feathers and hangs, the other looks like a victim of … and is a stump ending at the elbow. Hops like a kangaroo, but, can’t fly.

Spirulino

How to keep a wild sparrow in a cage? How to give him quality of life, which is anyway better than being eaten by Chocolat, the dinner monitor. Or by the fiscal shrike, ever hopeful that he will find a way into the cage. Spirulino is unconcerned by the cat, hasn’t learnt that. But when the fiscal shrike lands on his cage, Spirulino withdraws to his bedroom, We Are NOT At Home.

Here in our garden Spirulino lives

His cage is upcycled and a fair size. Perches installed by the Ungardener are real branches from the garden; perfect for polishing his beak clean after a nice juicy … He has cuttlefish, which are eagerly shared by his wild friends. They all eat wild bird seed. The friends get fed twice a day. Around 4 in the afternoon they line up in the ash tree like Christmas tree baubles, and complain vociferously if their dinner is late. Oy you, service!!! And Happy Hour is pretty deafening.

with friends

lots of friends

Thanks to Lee at Birds of Eden, we are adding carrots, broccoli, beetroot. Spirulino loves his mozzarella, but that is an occasional treat. Gets a little of whatever fruit we have, for some variety. And this little bird gets bigger and stronger, each time room service removes, and then replaces him, when his cage is cleaned. He yells at the Ungardener and tries to peck him. Being a seed eater, he shows willing, but doesn’t draw blood.

dining out

coming in to land. Look at that tail!

Our little bird spends his day in the ash tree, with lots of friends, and the odd enemy – who is greeted with screams of rage by his flock. When it is too hot, too cold, too wet, too windy – we move him to the verandah. On the edge with sun and the breeze thru his feathers, or tucked in the corner with the Ficus if the weather is fierce. Winter nights he is sheltered in the laundry.

Happy Hour

with a red eye

Close friends are Cape sparrows, house sparrows, Cape weavers and masked weavers, pin tailed whydahs. Passing acquaintances are sunbirds, wagtails, doves and pigeons, starlings, swallows. There are mousebirds and white eyes. Even passing egrets and guineafowl, who leave a feather as a calling card. Once there was a heron, a black stork. Hadedah ibis on the commuter run overhead. Floating high on the thermals, birds of prey, in search of lunch.

Spirulino RIP October 2014

Nightingale Island story moved to Elephant's Eye on False Bay in March 2014

Pictures by Jurg and Diana,

words by Diana of Elephant's Eye

- wildlife gardening in Porterville,  

near Cape Town in South Africa   

   

(If you mouse over brown text, it turns shriek pink. 

Those are my links)