baby lorikeet found in wall cavity

[jimmy84]

hi All

I live in a unit block in Sydney, for the past few days i have been hearing strange screeching noise somewhere in my balcony. and my housemate has been witnessed a pair of rainbow lori show up on our balcony few times, but we didnt put the puzzle together

on the fourth day in the long weekend, i realized the noise is coming from inside the balcony wall cavity, so i removed the antenna socket, sticked my phone in and snapped few pics, look what i found...

i'm so excited and happy that the little fellow was still alive, while i'm very nervous and careful while trying to get him out there, because the space is so confined and my hand wont reach even when fully inserted in there. after few attempts with some bruise and scratch on my hand and arm, i hammered half a brick off the way inside cavity, and finally reached him. he was shivering and weak, so i put him in a cupboard box , he quickly settled down while i fed him with water and grape

it's weird that i dont see any nesting around my balcony and there is one floor above mine, i suspect there is a nest in the roof of the unit block somewhere, how he got in there is a total mystery

anyway, i m so proud of the chick and myself.

he could have died in there forever.

Thats only the half of the story, i will post some question in this thread tomorrow.




_

[avinet]

That is a very lucky Rainbow!  However there is likely another one somewhere - they normally have 2 babies to a nest, unless one egg failed to hatch.

He is about 4 weeks old, and it will be another 5 weeks before he is weaned properly.  Get some Lorikeet wet mix powder to start feeding him - and mix the powder into a cream consistency with warm water at about 42°C.  He will need feeds 4 times a day.  At this time of year, and given his age and the warm spring you  won't have to worry about keeping him warm - his down feathers will be sufficient.

A guide to hand rearing I wrote is at scas.org.au/html/hand_rearing_part_1.html and the second part at scas.org.au/html/hand_rearing_part_2.html

Any questions just ask away

cheers,

Mike

[jimmy84]

Thanks Mike

I think there is another one in the upper floor of my unit block where it suppose to be, as i can hear similar screeching noise.

I have bought a bag of Harmony lorikeet and honey eater mix from Woolworth, seems like he loves the taste better than grapes and apples.

While i am feeding him in living room, his screeching sound attracts his parents, every morning and dawn, the pair of adult lorikeets will fly onto edge of my balcony , cautiously looking down, i then carefully place the chick on the balcony floor then walk away,adult birds will then feed him mouth to mouth.

I am not sure whether i should let this happen, really want to raise the chick and tame him to become pet. on the other hand, hearing his parents calling for him every day on my balcony makes me heart breaking.