I found a live (but possibly injured/sick) robin lying on the ground outside my house--can anything be done to help it?
The poor thing was lying on a sheet of ice and flapping its wings—I noticed it when I was pulling out of my driveway this afternoon (we had an ice storm here last night). It doesn't have any visible injuries, but it doesn't seem to be able to stand up on its feet. I have no idea how long it had been lying on the ground in that state. I fed it some water with a dropper and put it in a box with a heating pad underneath and covered it with a towel.
I tried to research local wildlife organizations in my area, but the few that exist are quite far away and not in operation because of the holiday. I'm not even sure they could help it. Can one do anything but wait? I didn't have the heart to leave it lying out in the weather, but I doubt the poor thing's going to survive. I am hoping it dies as peacefully as possible. It's sort of ruined my day and bummed me out.
| by Anonymous | reply 21 | December 25, 2022 5:55 PM
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OP, go to Reddit to r/AskVet or one of the ornithology subs.
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | December 25, 2022 8:14 AM
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Can you call the ASPCA helpline?
| by Anonymous | reply 3 | December 25, 2022 8:16 AM
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you better not touch it with your bare hands, if anything we have learnt in recent years, the animals and birds they carry all sort of viruses, wear a glove if you do want to help.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | December 25, 2022 8:17 AM
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Give it to Mel Etheridge. It will be drug addicted and suicided in no time.
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | December 25, 2022 8:22 AM
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The average lifespan of a robin is thirteen months.
| by Anonymous | reply 6 | December 25, 2022 8:29 AM
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God bless all of the animals in need. I am hoping for a Christmas miracle, OP.
| by Anonymous | reply 7 | December 25, 2022 8:53 AM
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God bless all the lowly animals that post on the DL.
| by Anonymous | reply 8 | December 25, 2022 9:28 AM
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[quote] The average lifespan of a robin is thirteen months.
That seems awfully short. Even bugs live longer.
| by Anonymous | reply 9 | December 25, 2022 9:30 AM
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I don't think r6 is true. If an American Robin survives its first year (and something like half of them don't), it will probably live to be 4 or 5.
The oldest recorded American Robin lived to the age of 14.
| by Anonymous | reply 10 | December 25, 2022 9:35 AM
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R8, you resemble that remark.
| by Anonymous | reply 11 | December 25, 2022 10:15 AM
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Once the bird has warmed up, it might be fine. But it has to warm up first.
A woman in the UK found a frozen bird in the snow, took it inside and used the lowest setting on a hairdryer to thaw it out. The bird was fine at the end of it all and flew away.
Good luck OP. Thanks for caring.
| by Anonymous | reply 12 | December 25, 2022 11:33 AM
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you can look up avian or bird rehabilitator in your county and likely find someone that does... it's not so much organizations that do this sort of thing, anymore, than individuals. . . there are various search sites but facebook remains a good source for searching these.
Lacking that, you can call the state and see if they can refer you to anyone in your area. . . though, records are can be dated, difficult to get an immediate response and they'd only maintain lists for 'licensed' rehabs.. licensing can be tough, many of the unofficial tend to be volunteers in the process of...
you could just google what to do...
or open up an instagram for it and go viral.
| by Anonymous | reply 13 | December 25, 2022 11:49 AM
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34M views over a period of five years
| by Anonymous | reply 14 | December 25, 2022 12:28 PM
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Well, no Christmas miracles here—I woke up this morning and it was (unsurprisingly) dead. There were some loose feathers in the box and it was lying on its back in the corner, which makes me wonder if it was struggling in its death knell. I really hope not. I suspect it must have had some sort of internal injury, because it couldn't manage standing and spent most of the evening lying on its side, sleeping. I guess at least it didn't die helpless in the cold. Finding injured or sick wild animals like this seems to be a common occurrence in my life, which sucks because I really love animals, so it's always difficult for me. On to the next!
| by Anonymous | reply 17 | December 25, 2022 4:52 PM
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I'll take care of it for you, OP.
| by Anonymous | reply 18 | December 25, 2022 5:00 PM
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I'm sorry you had to experience that without being able to really do much for the bird, OP. Thank you for trying though.
| by Anonymous | reply 19 | December 25, 2022 5:14 PM
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Have you tried replacing the batteries?
| by Anonymous | reply 20 | December 25, 2022 5:18 PM
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