FORCED MEAL: Caught by a cat at Black Point, this young, sleek MacGillivray's warbler arrived at Powell River Orphaned Wildlife Society traumatized and refusing to eat.
After being force-fed (having mealworms pushed down its throat), it clearly decided to continue this process on its own.
Carrying on with a course of antibiotics, it is anticipating time in a flight cage and then release.
Warblers are particularly vulnerable to capture by cats as they nest on or near the ground. Under dense shrub cover, they build an open cup of coarse grass and plant fibre.
The young are born helpless and naked. It takes two parents to raise the two to six nestlings, so if one parent is taken by a cat, the nest will be abandoned by the remaining parent and all the babies die.
Hopefully this one will get back out and find a mate to start again.
Contributed photo
