American Goldfinches In Distress

The following story about American goldfinches and other songbirds was shared with us by the Wild Nest Bird Rehab in Georgia.

The year 2022 was a success, as our new songbird rescue center, Wild Nest Bird Rehab, took in over 1,500 native birds. This was our first year in our new center, and we didn’t move in until Feb. 2022. We had much to do, including moving, setting up a new center, figuring out which room should be for what, writing protocols, and feeding birds. Our first aviary was built and finished in April, and we filled it up immediately.

We used EmerAid IC Carnivore as part of the in-house recipe we make, named finch formula, to hand-feed more than 30 baby goldfinches of various species.

Pictured here is one of three American goldfinches we successfully raised on the finch formula. This is fed from 1 cc O-ring syringes with canula tips attached.

This baby (#1340) was brought into our center on Aug. 19 by a rescuer who found the baby on the ground, not moving, in her driveway. After several unsuccessful attempts to locate his nest or mother, the fledgling was brought to the center.

He was slightly dehydrated, weighed 8.6 grams (about 0.3 ounces), and appeared uninjured. We had two other goldfinch fledglings at the time, so he was added to their group. They were raised together until their release on Oct 23. They were weaned and later soft released from their aviary with backup finch seeds provided until they no longer needed it.

EmerAid is recommended as one of the main ingredients by songbird experts who created the finch formula. It is a unique formula, and only offered to finch species. The formula, which we used for the first time in 2022, appears to work nicely. The birds had good feathering, coloring, normal development, and body conditions.