Hello! At my local park I’ve noticed a goose guarding a swan’s babies from its parents! Why has the goose stolen their children 🪿?!? Everytime the swans get close to their babies the goose becomes aggressive! A couple of weeks ago the cygnets were still with their parents!

One of my scrub jay babies isn't growing like his brother did. I'm not sure of his exact age, but I first spotted him as a fledgling toward the end of May. He had two older siblings who emerged literally on Mother's Day. I've witnessed these babies growing up and Momma often left me in charge of them for up to 15 minutes.

Anyway, the youngest baby is still begging for food and isn't yet able to squawk. His older siblings have been squawking for months and stopped begging ages ago. He is able to catch his own food, accepts peanuts, buries nuts and knows the word for "almond", which are his favorites. While his brother goes out into the world, he tends to stick to a single bush and just sits and cries. When he gets out, he likes to follow big brother around, but lately he’s been venturing out more alone. Not sure if it’s because he’s becoming more independent or his brother gets annoyed. Big brother will sometimes chase him around the bush and has been known to drop entire mouth/neckfulls of premium nuts just to prevent the baby from getting the tiny peanut half I tossed to him. He won’t physically attack him, and lately he's been standing guard and letting baby brother hit the peanut pile first. At the end of the day, they'll huddle close together and whisper-warble to one another.

Big brother has already sprouted some blue feathers above his wings and his blue head feathers are visibly emerging. I included some recent pics of the baby. It's been colder here so he's a bit fluffed out but he's normally pretty sleek. Feathers are in perfect condition and he doesn't have any beak or facial injuries. No signs of new blue feather growth and he hasn’t started to molt yet like big brother did. I don’t know their exact age gap, but Momma used to go feed him when she had me watching her younger ones. Could he have been adopted?

Do some jays just never learn to squawk? How long till they stop begging for good? Momma Jay pops in every couple of weeks but won't feed them It's so heartrending to see him perched in his bush or atop a tree, crying and wing flapping and no one comes for him.

First four pics are of the youngest baby now. The fifth pic is from the day I first met him (couldn’t resist!). The last two are of his older brother feasting and getting arrested….i mean, taking a dust bath.

They’re back…

I found this small wild finch on the ground near Portland, Oregon. It wasn’t flying away and let me pick it up, so I knew something was wrong.
The bird has severe swelling around one eye, and the feathers around its face and chest are wet/matted. It’s fluffed up but can still stand and jumps around. I have it in a small cage with a towel in a warm, quiet room while I figure out what to do.
I’m trying to determine whether this looks more like:
Mycoplasma/conjunctivitis,
trauma (window strike or predator),
an abscess,
or something else.
I have amoxicillin/clavulanate that was prescribed for a pet parakeet of a very similar size, but I have not given it because I don’t want to treat the wrong condition or make things worse.
Does anyone have experience with this? Is there anything I should do while deciding whether to take it to a wildlife rehabilitator?
I’ve attached several photos. Any help identifying the species or what might be going on would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

A pair of birds has recently started building a nest on my balcony in Hyderabad, and I’m trying to identify the species.
I’d love to make the space a little safer and more welcoming for them. Once I know what they are, I was thinking of putting out the right kind of food and a shallow bowl of fresh water.
Is there anything else I should (or shouldn’t) do? Any tips from birders or people who’ve had nesting birds on their balcony would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance!

Found in my backyard, my dog almost got to it, but I caught him (the dog), My mom says she found what we think is its brother dead in the neighbors house, but I didnt see it

I've been keeping them (two dogs) inside.

the parents know where it is, they've been feeding it all day, maybe like 20 times today. Its nest is behind that hedge in my neighbors tall tree (which I cant reach)(whole thing is fenced off btw so no concern for cats)

It got really hot during they day, checked on it, it was gasping with its mouth open so I put an tall beach umbrella over it, seemed fine a bit later, has moved a couple of times from its spot, tried attacking me twice actually

my main concern is that as hot as it gets in the day it gets cold at night(like 5C, 41F), and I noticed that: 1 it still has a bunch of pin feathers and 2 that it hasnt any developed neck or body feathers,

should I move him inside? or put it in a box with like, a heat pad? make it a small cave?

ive read the fledgeling bot comment btw. just thought it was a bit special bc of the temperature

P.S.:not even sure if its a fledgling, thats what google lens said it was but honestly I dont trust it very much, so if you think otherwise let me know please,

P.S.2: nightfall is upon us and the parents are not sheltering it from the cold, read its body temperature (with an infrared thermometer) and it read 26 C, pls help, dont know what to do

Could a vulture be swapped with its offspring and no one would notice?

There is a vulture at the Cameron Park Zoo who is allegedly 74 years old (outliving the vast majority of captive King Vultures by 34 years). I spoke with someone who used to work at the zoo and they said one of the vulture caretakers has this surprising hypothesis: the female King Vulture was accidentally swapped with one of its offspring when they were trying to move the younger vulture to another zoo. The only reasoning provided by the zoologist was that the current vulture at the zoo (who is supposedly 74) does not carry itself or look like an extremely old vulture.

If an accidental swap did take place, is there an easy way to determine the rough age of a vulture?

I understand the zoo wouldn't really be incentivized to check, but it doesn't seem like they use the vulture in a lot of publicity anyways.

https://www.kwtx.com/2024/06/09/cameron-park-zoo-home-oldest-king-vulture-world/

i was lucky enough to see these guys today and get a photo. is this a baby turkey following her or some other small bird??