Bird Watching: How to mend a broken wing., 1 by WaterCan2

WaterCan2 wrote:
Dec 20th, 2009

I had just finished shoveling the snow from the driveway, after a 24hr snowstorm began here in NY. It was Sunday morning & the 50mph winds had died down when DW called me from one of the side windows of my house. She told me that a male Cardinal was on the ground 'calling for help'. I went to the back and found a male cardinal having difficulty walking, as I got closer I noted it was trying to fly but for some reason couldn’t. My DW begged me to help it and I got some gloves and a towel and was able to capture it.

I took it inside and put it in a soft insulated lunch box and observed it for awhile. It’s left wing was angled in an awkward manner and it’s toes on one foot were curled up and it was limping on the other leg. No signs of any other traumatic injury. 20min later while I sat and thought of what to do next it escaped and started running around the house! Well the leg was fine, probably suffering from frost-bite since he was confined to the snow covered ground outside and the temps were in the mid 20°s, so only one injury left… a broken wing.

This pic was taken about ½hr after capture, (still in the ice box).