Little baby Greenfinch in distress. /SAD NEWS P9.

We have lots of fluffy baby birds at the moment in our garden and this morning we noticed a baby Greenfinch who looked to be having breathing problems, when we finally got close enough to him to look we noticed he had like fat all round his beak and in his mouth and he kept taking gulps and trying hard to get the fat out of his mouth but it just wouldn't budge it was also over his nostril holes we just couldn't leave him like that so I got some fly netting that I had and Mike made like a net out of it. Three times we tried to slowly net him and on the fourth try Mike got him.

With a cotton bud Mike opened his mouth and it was just full of fat which Mike got out and right at the back of his mouth was bits of peanut and I think the combination of both fat and peanuts had just been to much for the poor baby who couldn't swallow them and his mouth was just clogged up. Mike got most of the fat out of his mouth and then syringed some water into his mouth just in case he had not been able to drink, and then he let him go and he flew off. I do hope he will be ok.









And away he goes.

Well done for spotting his distress ! You know, I've never heard of this/seen this happen in our garden, wonder if it is something that is common in baby birds ? Maybe the fat balls get slightly melty in hotter weather and then stick in their beaks - cos in the winter they seem crumbly ?

Well done you, i know that during the summer months peanuts shouldnt be put out for exactly this reason, hopefully he will make a good recovery, you may of saved a life.:wave:

Ah bless what a sweet story! Keep your eyes open he might come back for visits

I thought twice about posting this as I didn't want to come across all depressing - especially after you did a really great thing and helped the little one.
But I thought it might help if people see this and are aware and can maybe help stop it spreading.
I recognised the symptoms after the Finches in my Mum's gardens suffered.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/health/sickbirds/greenfinches.asp

It's a difficult thing to prevent but the 'What Can I Do' bit might help.

Sorry. I'm not meaning to be all morose.

I'm careful to only put nuts out for the birds in proper feeders i.e. not on the ground etc so that the baby birds don't get them stuck (they can't get nuts out of feeders when they're young). Maybe that's what happened to this little chap, from a neighbouring garden? Sounds like he bit off more than he could chew! Glad you helped him and he flew away

BobbleG said:

I thought twice about posting this as I didn't want to come across all depressing - especially after you did a really great thing and helped the little one.
But I thought it might help if people see this and are aware and can maybe help stop it spreading.
I recognised the symptoms after the Finches in my Mum's gardens suffered.

http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/helpingbirds/health/sickbirds/greenfinches.asp

It's a difficult thing to prevent but the 'What Can I Do' bit might help.

Sorry. I'm not meaning to be all morose.

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Thanks for this it is very interesting, but I think in this little fellows case his mouth was just full of fat and peanuts and it had sort of set, although he was fluffed up as soon as his mouth was cleared he became unfluffed if you know what I mean. We don't put out fat balls or anything like that in the Summer if we do buy peanuts it's the chopped ones that babies can digest, and I have a special bird spray for cleaning the bird station and pots. This is the only bird we have seen that looked ill and we have not found any dead birds in the garden, but now I have read this I will know what to look for, thank you. :wave:

Tuckerbunnies said:

Thanks for this it is very interesting, but I think in this little fellows case his mouth was just full of fat and peanuts and it had sort of set, although he was fluffed up as soon as his mouth was cleared he became unfluffed if you know what I mean. We don't put out fat balls or anything like that in the Summer if we do buy peanuts it's the chopped ones that babies can digest, and I have a special bird spray for cleaning the bird station and pots. This is the only bird we have seen that looked ill and we have not found any dead birds in the garden, but now I have read this I will know what to look for, thank you. :wave:

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I was going to add that by no means did this mean your little baby had it - but thought I'd look like I was back peddling. :lol:

I'm sure he just stuffed too much in his mouth at one time (I know the feeling!)

Keep an eye out, he's sure to be back bringing all his mates now!

Sad News.

Tonight when I was in the garden I found the little baby greenfinch walking round that Mike had cleared his mouth on the 16th June, he didn't seem to be able to fly and he was finding it hard to breathe I ran and got Mike who gently picked him up and looked in his mouth and a large peanut was at the back of his throat blocking his airway.
Mike gently tried to dislodge the peanut and as he was trying the baby Greenfinch died in his hand. We are just so sad as we have kept our eye on him everytime we have seen him to make sure he was ok and we haven't seen him for a couple of days until tonight.
I can't stop thinking now did we kill him and it's really upsetting me, Mike said he couldn't breathe and was weak and that's why he couldn't fly and if he could have got the peanut out of the back of his throat he may have lived but sadly it was wedged fast.
I'm just so upset.

Oh no, what a shame. RIP little greenie.

Try not to think it's your fault, it sounds like he was having trouble eating from the outset anyway. He almost certainly had a few extra days of life thanks to your quick thinking first time around. And think of all the birds you've helped by putting food out for them - I'm sure it must have been beneficial to many many birds indeed.

RIP little baby, it wasn't your fault chick you did everything you could xx