WILD BIRD ETHICS

OK, Here is something for those of you with fine minds and tender hearts to ponder. A very small Red-breasted Nuthatch is "in residence" with us. This individual has been around now for over three weeks which began just before the spell of freezing weather now past. This tiny bird is conspicuous because he/she is quite lame. The right leg is held up tight to the breast and is of no help in perching, maintaining balance, or gripping sunflower seeds so they can be easily opened. Specifically, upon landing on a branch or limb or upon the wire perches of the feeder, this little guy immediately tips to the right and flutters to maintain an upright position. At the feeder the resulting posture often leaves him in a position too awkward to snatch a seed from the guarded opening. When the seeds can be accessed, he seems to toss many aside, apparently aware that most of the larger, harder seeds may be too much challenge to open. Although I can not follow him into the trees to observe the seed cracking operation, I know that one claw would grasp the perch and the other should grip the seed and hold it secure while the bird opens the husk with his beak to extract the edible kernel of nutrition within. I suspect this is nearly impossible for our little handicapped fellow. In fact, it has been trying to open seeds using our plastic front doormat, which is a sort of a coarse astro-type texture. That does not work. In response, I have been putting down shelled bits of sunflower seed kernels right where our friend sits and works and waits. This may help stave of immediate starvation (and there seems lately to be a diminished energy evident). We in turn have to be careful to step over the bird when entering or leaving the house. Our presence does not unduly alarm the bird, or there is too little energy/desire to flee. Actually, I'd rather attribute his calm demeanor to a modicum of trust.

Here come the ethical dilemma. What, if anything at all, should I attempt to do for this bird? Maybe I have already intervened too much just by offering a simpler food source. But it is certainly in a hazardous location being exposed and at ground level. We do have several neighborhood cats which pass by more or less daily, including a pair of mean, yellow, bird-hunters that would display no mercy. So, #1, I can continue to feed and hope for the best. Here's option # 2. I did call the Audubon Care Center over in NW Portland and they suggested I could catch the bird and bring it in to them for examination. They would check to see whether the leg is broken and can be mended, but if not, they would then euthanize the bird forthwith. It all sounds so traumatic. Option #3., offered by my local bird-shop was to just "let nature take its course, whatever that may bring". In that case, the bird would eventually "disappear" and I would likely never know (i.e. "have to know") what happened. Another unsatisfactory possibility - #4. - is to catch this wild bird and put it in a cage and feed it "in captivity" for the rest of its days.

All right, what would you do? Go the "hands off all wildlife" route. Capture and artificially maintain the bird yourself? Pass along this responsibility to the Audubon Care team who may terminate if "healing" is beyond them? Continue to ground feed and hope for the best? Or do you have another viable solution which is ethically better than any options I have currently?