Meet Peg

Peg is short for Peg Leg.

I found Peg Saturday evening, caught by one leg, in a large rodent snap trap in our pasture.

I released her, scooped her up, and brought her into the house.

Her leg was a mess; a bloody compound fracture with her foot dangling by a long, skinny piece of skin.

I had to amputate her leg with toenail clippers.

 (I had big dreams of being a vet when I was a kid.)

While I was bandaging her stub (with cotton and antibiotic gel wrapped with first aid tape - and duct tape for good measure),  her eyes closed and I thought she was dying.

I said, "Don't you die on me little birdy!  I haven't lost a patient on the kitchen counter operating table yet!"

She rallied.  

I think she was just in shock.

I was surprised to find Peg still alive Sunday morning.  I fed her a mix of wild finch seed and millet pieces.  ????  Just guessing on what might be right.  She hung on and was a feisty little dish, escaping once to fly madly around my laundry room.

I dropped Peg off at an avian vet's office Tuesday.  I knew she needed to be on antibiotics and might need her boney stub cauterized and I wasn't sure what to do next. 

I thought Peg might be some kind of finch.  The vet said she's definitely not a finch but wasn't sure what kind of bird she is.  (The vet deals mostly with parrots, but kindheartedly treats wild birds that find their way to her office.)  I emailed Peg's picture to  a friend who said she looks like an immature meadowlark, and said she really should have some bugs to eat.

Do you think Peg is a young meadowlark?

The vet doesn't keep live food on hand, so I took some mealworms to the office today.  Good timing too.  They just got a flicker in that had been caught in a volleyball net and injured its wings.

So Peg - the alleged meadowlark - and the flicker will be eating good tonight.

Yum! Yum! Deeeelicious!

Gosh!  I dropped 100 mealworms off at the vet's office.  That might not feed two hungry birds for very long.