Anyone with injured bird experience please

That B....y Sparrowhawk attacked a Starling today. We came around a corner of the house and surprised it. It had the Starling facedown on the floor and was pulling its feathers out . It let go and flew off. We tried to pick up the Starling but it fluttered under the hedge out of reach. We get watch over it for a couple of hours during which time that horrid thing came back twice trying to get it. We scared it off. Eventually Starling came out of the hedge and we caught it. It's been literally plucked and there was some blood on my fingers but very light. Not sure if it's from the plucking or another injury. I didn't want to stress it further by handling it too much. . Poor little bean is very shocked. Got it in a pet carrier in a quiet room. The wildlife rescue here is over stretched but they say what I am doing is the right course of action and to wait and see if it makes it through the night. Is there anything else I can do?

 

RSPCA website has an ask option:

RSPCA

If the bird is injured, it may need to go to a vet.

With regard to who pays the bill:
https://www.rspca.org.uk/ImageLocator/LocateAsset?asset=document&assetId=1232721695816&mode=prd

 

Hope the little fella is still ok..? I've taken injured birds to the vets before now and normally they have been pts without incurring a cost. And in my experience, rspca don't want to know unless there's money in it, sadly.

 

It's still alive, hasn't eaten anything but seems more alert perhaps. Reacted when I checked on it awhile ago. I can take it to a vet but would prefer they try to treat it not just offer to PTS without a treatment option.

 

@luciusmaximus , this is nature and the natural course of events. Raw in tooth and claw. Starlings and Sparrowhawks have evolved alongside each other for millions of years. Sparrowhawks are not “horrid things” , they need to eat too and soon, just like smaller birds will have chicks to feed. They are apex predators and part of the ecosystem. They are here to stay and rightfully so.

 

You know, I've, on the odd occasion, intervened with nature in a similar way.

I've come to the conclusion that it is mostly best to take a step back.

Often you end up with a severely damaged victim that will probably die anyway and a predator that has lost a meal.

Life ain't fair, but then nobody said it was.

 

The blood is probably from the quills being pulled out and he's probably in shock. I'd release him in the morning if he looks okay.

 

I agree with @Sheal.

The starling will be in shock. A quiet night is the best medicine it can have. It will either be alert in the morning, in which case offering a drink, and release is in order; or will have died overnight.

I do see what the others are saying as well. We can sometimes find that stepping in is not the best option in the long run.
Sparrowhawks need to eat too. We had a similar occurrence right by the kitchen window a few weeks ago. A sh took out a wood pigeon just before dusk. He ate a little, but flew off. He came back next morning, for breakfast, and was most irate to find that a fox/cat had removed pigeon from the menu...

Having said that, I have often picked up "window strikes" and put them in a quiet place to see if they recover. Sadly, they normally don't. Dad used to say if you can pick them up, then they are doomed. But very occasionally they do recover, and that feels so good ...!

 

@luciusmaximus ...you could always feed it mate like i've mentioned

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It is often difficult to know when to step in and when to leave nature alone. As @Redwing has said "Sparrowhawks are not horrid things" and they need to eat.
Many rescued birds, hedgehogs, fox cub orphans etc come here as I work as a halfway house for our local rescue. It is not always easy to be ''matter of fact'' sensible, but that is what is needed in cases like this.

 

How’s the starling?

 

My personal feelings towards birds of prey are mine and obviously not shared by others. To me it is a horrid thing. There is nothing positive I can find to say about it - which is unusual for me. It looks at me with its cold and soulless eyes, it's probably wondering whether it could attack me and it's decidedly lacking in personality. I realise that it has to eat and that it has chicks to raise but I don't have to like the way it goes about it. But it is what it is. I also realise that by encouraging the little birds I've inadvertently rung the dinner bell for it. It came the day before yesterday but the Crows ( who are nesting in the pine tree chased it off ). They and the Magpies seem quite happy with their daily bowls of meat and biscuits. I've seen the Maggies taking big beakfuls of the food and flying off in the direction of the nest but I'm not sure if they have chicks yet.

It's interesting that people will leap to the defence of a bird of prey but there are those who think it's acceptable to poison or glue trap Rattus Norvegicus. Rats are wild animals who have to eat and have babies to provide for. And, I only wanted advice on how to help an injured bird.

 

Good morning @luciusmaximus.
How was the bird in the morning? Did he survive the night?

 

On one evening we found a bedraggled young bird, wet through looking as if it were at death's door. We put it in a cardboard box with half a hard- boiled egg, closed up the box and put it in the corner of the kitchen overnight. The following morning I took the box into the garden fearing the worst. When I opened the box, it was "as right as ninepence" and flew away. It has eaten some of the egg.

 

Sadly, no it did not