Published 23:15 IST, September 29th 2021

Baby Scrub Jay bird returned to the wild after being saved from bulldozer

A contractor of US Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District spotted two gray baby birds while working on

Reported by: Apoorva Kaul
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Image: Twitter/@USACESacramento | Image: self
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A contractor of the US Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District spotted two gray baby birds in the path of a bulldozer while working on the Sacramento River East Levee project. The baby birds were rescued and taken care of by a couple who worked for the Sacramento District, reported Good News Network. The couple after taking care of the bird later returned the Scrub jay back to the wild.

Roberto Navarez spotted the birds and noticed long branches from a huge oak tree stretched over the levee, reported Good News Network. Navarez, however, was unable to find a nest anywhere in the tree. Navarez continued to watch the two baby birds, with the hope that they would be reunited with their parents. However, Navarez was unable to find the parents of the bird.

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Navarez knew that the birds needed to be taken out and he contacted wildlife biologist Pete Morris of Nordic, the SREL Contract 2 project contractor. In order to move the birds out, Morris used a small cardboard box, reported Good News Network. The baby birds were taken to the Army Corps of Engineering (USACE) trailer. The baby birds were taken inside the airconditioned building, where the larger bird started hopping around and chirping. But, the smaller bird remained quiet.

They contacted USACE Quality Assurance Representative Lee Roork, who takes injured owls to various wildlife sanctuaries. Roork attached the cardboard nest with the two birds in it to a branch. He hoped that their parents would pick them up. However, only the larger bird leapt from the box and interacted with an adult scrub jay before they both hopped onto the nearby bush, leaving the smaller bird, reported Good News Network. 

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Seeing that the smaller bird would likely not survive if left alone, Roork decided to take care of the baby bird. His wife, who is also an employee of USACE, immediately agreed to his plan to take care of the baby bird, which they named Blu, as per the Good News Network report. Husband and wife started taking care of the baby scrub jay. Blu also started interacting with them, however, their goal was to send Blu back to the wild. They made Blu eat proper diet which let her grew properly and eventually made her do activities like finding food. Roork and his wife would bring the bird outside to acclimate it to the surroundings. One day, they kept the door slightly open and Blu fled through it. The bird Blu landed on nearby trees where it joined other scrub jays. 

Image: Twitter/@USACESacramento

23:15 IST, September 29th 2021