Earlier this month, Big Lake resident Amanda Klersy rescued a tiny baby bird she found in her backyard. 

Klersy was moving her family’s old Christmas tree in her backyard when she found a tiny bird. She hadn’t realized any birds were in the tree. 

“I brought him/her in the house, put him on a washcloth on top of a heating pad and did some research trying to figure out what to feed it,” Klersy said.

She guessed the bird might be a starling, and decided to feed it watered-down egg yolks and watered-down wet dog food, which the bird ate happily.

“He did great!” Klersy said. “By Friday he was chirping for his food when he was hungry.”

Klersy fed the bird using a straw with the end cut off, to form a scoop. The baby bird had to be fed every 20-30 minutes during the day.

After making sure the bird was strong enough to go to a new home, Klersy decided the best thing for it was to bring it to the wildlife center.

“On Saturday I brought him into the wildlife center because I was worried that I wasn’t giving him the right nutrition he needed. The ladies there were really nice and they thought he might actually be a robin, not a starling.”

Update: Klersy found out just before press time the bird did not survive at the wildlife center.