Wildlife On The Back Porch

I was sitting at the computer doing some work last week when I heard this funny noise. I thought their was something wrong with Charlie the Cat or maybe a dog over the fence. I got up to investigate and what did I see but a baby Magpie at the backdoor. We could tell it was a baby as it had the fluffy feathers and of course it did not fly away.Hubs was outside in the garden but did not hear a thing. We discussed what we should do as of course it was squawking. I got some water and bread, I dipped the bread in the water and then put it close to the bird so it would eat. When Charlie came round we grabbed him and put him inside. He was none too pleased as he loves birds and not in a good way. 

I decided to ring our local RSPCA which handles animal rescues to find out what to do. I of course thought they would tell us who to ring to pick it up and take care of it. That did not happen, I was told that around this time of year the baby birds get kick out of the nest. This is the way they learn to fly. Apparently mum and dad stay close by and if we stay away and do nothing they will feed it. It can take up to 2 weeks for the baby to learn to fly, we did not know how Charlie would cope with this as he is an outside cat who only comes in at night. We were lucky though as we left the bird alone and it eventually left later that day. Much to our relief and Charlie's.