Rare albino in good hands
A rarity in the bird world – an albino sparrow – is recuperating in Cambridge after being saved from the clutches of a cat’s claw.
The sparrow, which is pure white with pink eyes and legs, is in the capable hands of Robyn Chappell of Bird Rescue Cambridge.
‘‘The woman has brought birds to us before because her cat is a bird catcher. So she brought it up and said it was a little white one, she thought it might have been a finch. But it’s not a finch – it’s a really rare albino sparrow.
‘‘We are very excited but because it has been caught by a cat we hope that there are no internal injuries. But it’s a very cool bird,’’ Chappell said.
The bird they’ve called Luna, after the Moon, has no visible injuries on her but the next few days are crucial because if a cat has pierced or crushed anything internal it takes a few days for that to affect the bird’s organs.
If Luna does survive, she won’t be released back into the wild because she will be vulnerable to attacks from other birds, cats, and dogs. ‘‘Also being an albino her bones and wings are very brittle and fragile. And also the strong light affects her because of her pink eyes and legs so she’s susceptible to everything. So for her own safety and wellbeing, we will keep her in her own aviary with everything she could possibly want but we can’t release her.’’
Like all the birds in Chappell’s care, Luna is fed every hour during the day.
‘‘Because the birds are not getting fed by their parents, we’ve got to make sure they’re getting bits of everything.
‘‘Luna gets corn, peas, a special bird raising formula, mealworms, soaked cat biscuits – they’ve got to have protein based food.’’
It’s thought Luna is a few weeks old as her tail feather is only half grown. ‘‘We’ve got her at a fantastic age – as she’s not too young we are dicing with the food but she’s not so old she’s going to stress out and die because she’s been caught.’’
There has been a fair bit of research gone into how to look after Luna.
‘‘She will nod off in the day and you think oh no – as if they’re going to die they will nod off but no she’s back to her sprightly self.’’
Luna sounds just like a regular sparrow but Chappell can’t be sure of her gender because being albino Luna has no female or male markings. Chappell does hope that one day they will eventually find her a little mate.
Chappell has been involved in Bird Rescue Cambridge for the past five years and gets all sorts of birds and it’s especially busy at this time of year.
‘‘We’ve got ducklings, someone released budgies the other day so they’ve been rounded up and brought here. There is a pheasant, rescue hens and other sparrows.’’
Chappell is currently attempting to raise funds through her Givealittle page to build an aviary on her property.
‘‘It would be good to have a purpose-built aviary as people want to come and help. But at the moment it’s in our house and they’re in cages. So we want a purpose-built aviary where helpers can prepare the food.
‘‘There will be a safety door so they can walk in and hand-feed the babies or they might just sit there and watch and enjoy the birds.’’ Chappell is aiming to raise $8000 within the next six months.
‘‘This would allow a decent sized aviary ... so the likes of Luna or hawks can be sectioned off from other birds.’’