Baby Swallow

On Saturday, I was lying on the chair reading while the kids were playing outside. I heard a strange screeching meow noise and thought at first it was one of the kids pretending to be something, then I thought it might be somebody annoying the cat, I went to investigate. The cat looked extremely guilty and I realized there was something in her mouth. Thinking it was a frog I pursued the cat to initiate a rescue, when she dropped it however I saw that it was a baby bird. I picked it up and it was still alive. I knew where the nest was (about 3 meters from the ground) and could not find a ladder anywhere. It was shocky and sick looking with only half the feathers on, puffing and panting and wings and legs in unnatural positions. By this time the kids were involved and we also had to go out. I did not want to put it inside in case it died and we had to deal with it, I also did not want to put it where the cat could find it, I also did not know how to look after it. Since we had to go out we took it across the road to a scrub area and made a little nest in the shade of a tree and left it there.

I was kind of hoping it would die in the hour and a bit we were out, however it didn't so I looked up what and how to feed it and began getting water and food into it. I managed not to kill it and it improved enough composure to poop in my hand at one point. According to the internet baby swallows (that is what it was) leave the nest weighing about 17.5 grams and our baby weighed 16 grams, it had grown its flight feathers but they were still encased. Also according to the internet the parents don't reject them if you return them to the nest. The problem still remained though that I am not 3 meters tall and there was no ladder.

In the end, about 4 hours after the baby had been rescued, we managed to return it to the nest. We put a bar stool on the outside table and I stood on it and posted the baby back into the nest. Then we went inside and watched to see if the parents came back and kicked it out.

I am relieved to say no baby bird has reappeared and the mum and dad are still swooping about industriously, trying to keep the nest a secret in case we steal their baby.