Meet Swifty, iPigeon.institute’s latest rescue (not a pigeon).

Today, as I was walking in downtown LA, I had stopped on the sidewalk to do something (I forget what it was), and as I was finishing up, I looked down in front of me, and I saw a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest. I wasn’t sure if it was alive, or not, so I nudged it, and it spread its wings, to regain its balance. I was excited to find it was alive, and I picked the baby bird up, and continued along my way. 

At first, I thought that the baby was a falcon, since it had a sharp beak and sharp claws that dug in to my fingers, as I held it, and I felt a bit of trepidation about what I was doing - saving a future predator of pigeons, but, I figured, it’s a baby, and I’ll take care of it anyways, since I like caring for birds. 

Swifty, as I first found him.

Once I got home, I was eager to find out what falcon babies looked like, if they looked like this bird, or not, and then I asked ChatGPT about the bird, with a photo upload included in the query. 

Asking ChatGPT about the baby bird I found. 

At first, funnily enough, ChatGPT thought that the bird was a baby pigeon, but I pressed on, in asking it again, with a different photo, since the bird is obviously not a pigeon. This time, the photo was clearer on the features of the head of the bird, and ChatGPT identified it as a swift, not a predator, but an insectivore, meaning that it only eats insects. 

I spent some time learning about swifts, and how to feed them, which was my primary interest with the bird, since, at this stage, the baby is still fluffy with fuzz and pin feathers, and it cannot feed itself. Swifts are very interesting birds, in that they are capable of flying for up to 10 months at a time, nonstop. They are purported to be resolutely destined for the wild, where they spend most of their time in flight, catching insects, for food. Google’s AI-assisted search says that Chimney Swifts breed in North America and migrate to the Amazon basin. What an exciting life!

Swifty, up close, on his first day here.

Now that Swifty had gotten some water in him, he’s brighter-eyed, and more active. He’s an adventurous one, at times, and he climbed out of a shallow bowl and blanket that I had placed him in, earlier, to explore his surroundings a bit. Perhaps it was his adventurous spirit that got him grounded, whereupon I found him on the sidewalk, although there was a loop of string around his foot, possibly from the nest. The string wasn’t tight around him, though, and I removed it, once I found out it was a string - it looked like dusty debris, at first. It’ll be an interesting few weeks, or so, with Swifty, hopefully (I purchased food for him that’s coming tomorrow morning). He isn’t making gestures, yet, of being hungry, although he would obviously be hungry. Perhaps, after a good night’s rest, he’ll wake up with a hearty appetite. He did make some screeching noises, earlier, so I could tell that his condition is improving, over time, even though he hadn’t eaten since at least this afternoon, when I found him. 

Swifty fan art.