A Bulbul tale...

[rylnitu]

Got an interesting real life story about my bulbul ...It was a common garden bird, which i saw in my garden one day... i liked the bird,so i managed to tame it with time...slowly, it became my gooood friend..started visiting me everyday mayb 3-4 times for its treat ..started siting on my hand ! , and wot else ! It calls me loudly for its fav treat,ie ripe bananas ...one day it brought home its sweety too ! it made a nest INSIDE my house, and a baby bird arrived soon ... il post some pics now...

There is a full set of photos,videos and whole story in my blog http://www.birdfans.blogspot.com ... too lazy to recreate t story here too!!

Also got a similar story about an eagle... bt sory to say no videoss... got pics on my blogg... Enjoyyy!

[liz]

That is beautiful and I thought squirrels would be the next domesticated animals.
Where in you house did they build a nest?

[captwest]

Too Cool, Do they help with bugs in the garden too ?

[GlassOnion]

Wow! Taming must've taken forever, I'm doing that with my budgie right now.. and she's regressing more than progressing.

[Nevermore]

Don't want to burst anyone's bubble...but it isn't the greatest idea to 'tame' wild birds. Or any wild animal to say the least. There is a reason (many reasons) why it is illegal to have any native wild animal as a pet in Canada.

For one, wild animals will carry more pests/diseases than your domestic pets for many obvious reasons. Letting a wild one into your house puts not only your pets health at risk, but also yours. Wild animals often carry parasites and diseases that can also infect humans. Avian Flu, West Nile and Salmonella are three of many that you can catch from birds. There are more.

The second reason why it is not a good idea, is because you can train wild animals to be dependent on humans. With birds this can be relatively harmless, except for the bird. Because they come to associate humans with food. And not all humans see birds as pretty things to be protected. I know of many people that would take the opportunity to kill it for the fun of it. This gets to be down right dangerous with other animals, such as Raccoons. Human imprinted Raccoons can, and will attack humans who don't give them food. And can even kill, or mentally incapacitate people by infecting them with Raccoon Roundworm.

And in addition, many birds like to nest in the same place every year, and pass this trait on to their young. I am sure the next owners of your house will not appreciate it when the bird, its kids, and grandkids all want to nest on their mantle.

As far as having contact with the young birds, you run the risk of human imprinting any babies that are hatched in your house unless you completely avoid them. Human imprinted birds cannot survive in the wild.

I know, I'm being the pessimist here, but somebody has to say something. My personal opinion on birds, and wildlife in general is that they deserve freedom just as much as anyone. The only reason to have an animal in captivity is if there is no way they could survive in the wild (either through domestication or injury).

[rylnitu]

Sorry for t late replyyyy! yaa probably squirels do really make good pets i havent kept any as pets yet but ive seen cases where they seem to be really close to humans .... The 2bulbuls usually visit my home , ie upstairs, through our balcony door (which is usualy open to let in sunlight..) .. and so it came in through this balcony door and they seemed to be searching on top of our light.. in the common room upstairs ,next to my room... (ive added pics of their nest in my blog..plz see them ) .. they finishd with their nest within just 3days! i still have that nest with me.. at night the mother bird sits there the whole night though we wil be around in the room.. we try our best not to disturb her by tv noises n all .............

The birds doo help with bugs for sure ! i mean ive seen the birds feed their little baby with insects ...... Actualy it took about 2months to tame the little guy! .... just be slow on the taming process,provide him with fud ... be realy careful not to scare the little thing..and tats it ! u can tame any bird for sure!

Acutally,the bulbuls were not in captivity ! they were mere garden birds living close to humans and they lived in the nearby trees ...They visited me regularly for their treat it was actualy their choice whether to come /not, bt i ws happy they opted to come.. ... they dint stay long with me, they come,get their food and wud fly away back to their busy schedulee....

[Nevermore]

Squirrels are not good pets....I worked for a year in a vet clinic that would take in wildlife. And they did not take proper precautions to prevent the squirrels from being human imprinted. They were handled, and well treated while we raised them....and as soon as they hit adulthood they lacked any fear of humans and would attack you. And when they were released to the wild, they would continue to attack random people. The clinic was running a nice long list of places where they were forbidden from releasing animals because of this. They are ridiculously jittery and high energy. They're like jack russels on crack.

Also, FYI: Any human imprinted animal that survives long enough to find its way into a wildlife rehab or SPCA or any human society, if it cannot be turned into an educational animal, is instantly euthanized. Human imprinting a wild animal is a death sentence for it. By 'taming' a wild animal and potentially imprinting its young, you are not doing it any favours. You're just satisfying your own curiosity at the cost of the birds well being.

[liz]

Before I was "housebound", I volunteer at the Wild Life Rehab Center NC Zoo. One of the first things I learned was to find out where the animal came from so it could be released back into the area.

Because of this, people brought me things that they found. One was a naked, eyes shut September baby squirrel who had been knocked out of a tree during a storm. Since it wasn't injured I just kept it at home and bottle fed it adding natural things from outside for it to get used to. By the time it was old enough to release the weather turned cold and I had to winter it.

I built a big cage with natural things I found outside. The only thing unatural was the taboggan hanging on the inside of the cage that he slept in. I gave him swings and natural rope to climb on and a flopping eared stuffed animal to wrestle with like a litter mate.

Come spring, though he was fully mature, I could not get him out of the house. He would do lapps around the house until I let him back in. I finally took a lawn chair outside and each day I would move it closer to the woods and sit there with him. Finally he went up a tree but when I went back in the house he came too.

I saw another little squirrel outside and put nuts where he was. He came back the next morning to get them. I took Rocky down to catch his scent and he followed the trail. When I got home from work that night he was hanging on the garage door waiting to go back to his nest. The next morning I put him out again. He was not on my door that evening so I walked into the woods to call him. He came and sat on my shoulder but when I walked out of the woods he jumped off. I guess the other squirrel invited him to a sleep over.

I left my balcony door open a little in case he decided to come home later. He didn't. The next morning they were both at my balcony feeder. Rocky pushed me away when I tried to touch him.
They came back every day to the feeder. Rocky did not want to come home so he stayed farther away than the other squirrel.

When I sold my house 5 years later to a friend she promised to keep the feeder full. He was there every morning.

He was no longer bonded and became a wild animal in his own right. Rocky is not the only critter that I fostered and released succesfully.

[Chris&Akilah]

Uh did anyone even actually read the original post properly? The birds were merely being fed, in the wild, like so many other people feed wild birds. They are free to come and go as they please and were not held captive in any way. Keep in mind this is taking place in India, as well...bulbuls are native, and are well known for their naturally tame behaviour and lack of fear towards people.

I don't see how this is any different than me feeding the sparrows in the backyard and letting them nest under my deck, should I stop doing that because future owners of this house might not want them nesting on the deck? I don't think so. If having birds nest inside the house becomes tiresome, they can simply close the windows...

[Nevermore]

No. The difference is the birds are being handled and allowed to nest inside the house. I'm pointing out the risks involved, and some facts related to the subject. I apologize if I come across too forward, but taking in wildlife as pets, or trying to tame them is a sore subject with me. People like to think they're helping the wildlife by taking animals in, or by anthropomorphizing them and thinking they can 'befriend' them, when in the end they can end up doing more harm than good... I've tried to explain to far too many people that their cute fuzzy little raccoon babe can render their children blind and mentally handicapped (or any other animal/risk combo that people don't listen too because anything cute is obviously harmless!).

Wild birds feeding from a bird feeder are still wild. You don't invite them into your house to potentially infect you or your pets with parasites and diseases. And you don't let them nest IN your house and put the chicks at risk of being human imprinted. You're not crawling under your deck to get up close and personal with those sparrow chicks, and take pictures are you?

Even so, having bird feeders that are not regularly washed is also a risk. It is not unusual for there to be an outbreak of salmonella in song birds because infected birds have pooped in a feeder that all the birds eat from.

And Liz. You're right. They should have been getting released back where they were found. The conditions at that clinic for wildlife were horrendous. And nobody had the time for them. I did my best to help, and turned away a lot of animals to be taken to proper rehabs. But in the end...only so much I could do. The clinic was reported....but the inspectors who came didn't do a thing.

Fortunately you had the time to help the squirrel along. I'm partly trained for rehabbing, and did some volunteer work at a local bird of prey rescue organization. My sister-in-law rehabs 'part-time'; I help when I can.