Winging it for the baby robins

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Vineyard Haven resident created a makeshift nest to save three baby birds. —Adam Darack

As a self-described animal person, Edgartown IT Manager Adam Darack didn’t need to think twice when it came to saving three baby robins that had fallen from a tree near his Vineyard Haven home.

As Darack recalls, he was running late for his son’s band rehearsal earlier this month, when they noticed birds nest on the ground with the three baby birds.

Instead of going about their lives, the two agreed returning the robins to safety was more important.

“They were on the ground, and they weren’t going to be able to get back up. And I know we have raccoons and skunks around so, that night I think they would’ve been dinner,” said Darack. Allowing nature to take its course, Darack said, usually means the end for the birds. So he took it upon himself to step in. And what came next wasn’t your average animal rescue.

First, they gathered the birds in a towel-lined plastic container. Then, after dropping off his son at rehearsal, Darack got to work. In about 20 minutes, he fashioned a more durable, DIY nest.

He began by taking the cover off of a small cat’s carrier, leaving the bottom piece and the four sides. This would allow the birds shelter and stability, he said, so they wouldn’t fall to the ground.

“I put the towel down and then I had the nest, and I put it in the middle or towards the back of the carrier,” Darack said. He also fashioned a small battery powered camera behind the nest in the carrier.

Finally, using strings, he hoisted his contraption up to a nearby branch of a tree and tied the carrier with string down each of its four corners. The new nest dangled out of harm’s way, once again.

With the camera nestled in the birds’ new home, Darack and his family have watched the three baby birds grow over the next few days.

“I was looking, and within about 12 hours, the mama bird came and started feeding the babies,” Darack said. “And man, they work hard. The mama birds are amazing.”

He described watching the feedings take place from five in the morning to nine at night, with the mother attending to the babies every few minutes.

“You could just see the babies getting stronger, and then one day, there was no activity on the camera,” Darack said. After about two weeks, they had flown out.

It was a success story for the birds, and a test to Darack’s mechanical skills. Although he said he didn’t see himself as being the most handy, Darack was impressed with his ability to quickly configure the birds’ new home.

“I’ve been on the island about 20 years, but before that, I was off Island, and I was sort of the animal guy in the neighborhood,” explained Darack. He said he and his kids have always loved animals.

“If you’re wired towards helping animals, you just do it,” Darack said.

 

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