dropped into water

nbaum · Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:03 am

I have a martin house at the end of my pier. I was having breakfast and noticed a young martin from the house had dropped into the lake. The other martins were flying all around it. It made it to a neighbors boat lift. I was able to net it and I have taken it to ther top of a boat lift right next to the martin house. The other martins are showing interest but the young martin is soaking wet and seems scared to death.
What more should I do do to save the martin?

Dale D · Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:47 am

You need to return it to the nest as soon as possible as long as he is not hurt in any way. Check him for mites first to see if you have a mite problem.

nbaum · Sun Jul 29, 2012 9:51 am

As an update. In about 30 minutes the young martin started to show some movement. I could see him fluffing his feathers. Then about 15 minutes later he was gone. I guess all he needed was a little time to dry off. I want to believe he flew away but I did not see him. I looked all around and did not see him in the water again.I want to believe he was ready to fly. There has been a dozen martins on my house ten feet away.

Dale D · Sun Jul 29, 2012 10:28 am

How old was he? Was he 28 to 30 days old?

Emil Pampell-Tx · Sun Jul 29, 2012 10:29 am

As a general rule, martins nearby seldom feed a baby on the ground. There may be some martins near the downed baby, the martins seem to be giving the downed baby encouragement. Its really up to the baby to survive after its on the ground. It could be that the parents were not present when the baby fell, so they do not recognize the downed martin as their baby so even the parents ignore it. Non-parents do not pay any attention to a downed baby. They know its there, so if you try to pick it up, sometimes they try to scare you away. It always comes back to one thing, if the baby is too weak to fly, its in big trouble and seldom survives without help from humans.

The best thing that you can do is to try to replace the baby to its original nest. In your case, you may have helped by putting the wet baby on the dock so that it could lift off the dock easier than it can lift off the edge of the water.

Of course, there are other things that some people do such as feeding the babies, keeping them indoors at night, taking them to rehab, etc.

Barrowdog · Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:20 am

We had experience with water logged babies before we changed location. Drying off usually is all they need. MY BEt IS HE FLEW.If THE WATER IS COLD IS MORE CRITICAL TO GET THEM WARM QUICK. I have kept them and fed them live crickets if they are weak :until they can lift off. In Fl it is against the law to keep them in captivity longer than 48 hrs, In this case I take them to rehab. I volunteer there so I usually get them back pretty quickly. Good you scooped him up from my experience.
Sue

nbaum · Mon Jul 30, 2012 3:41 pm

I bet he flew. He looked like he was being vocal and moving around before he disappeared. He sure looked sad when I got him off a cross member on the neighbors boat lift. He could not have been in the water for more than a couple minutes. I put him in the sun on top of a boat canopy. It was about 80 degrees and the canopy was warm so I don't think he got too cold.

TX Rehabber · Mon Jul 30, 2012 8:58 pm

One of the best ways to warm an adult or baby, especially, taken them inside, towel dry and using a hair dryer on a low setting and holding it about 1 1/2 ft. from them this will warm and dry 'em at the same time. This prevents them from getting hyperthermia and puts them in the air quick or back into a nest if not a fledgling.

ToyinPA · Mon Jul 30, 2012 10:56 pm

I found a chick last year on the ground under our yard sprinkler. He was soaked. I took him in the house & rolled him up in paper towels to get him dry. Then warmed him a little with a hair dryer. Then I fed him & put him back in the house. Next day off he went.

Toy in PA