New Feather Baby?

Hubs found a wild bird in the room of the honey barn I have been painting. He thought it was a hawk. The GKs were underwhelmed, but I was itching with curiosity. I left him to negotiate with the GKs while I went to investigate.

When I entered the box room, the smallish bird flew away from me, as expected, but stayed weakly on the window sill ledge. It might have been bigger than a pigeon, but not by much, if at all. I've seen some BIG pigeons. The bird didn't move when I did after a few moments of stillness, so I picked up a GK jacket from one of the camp chairs and approached. The feathers looked healthy and all the parts seemed to be working, but its movements were weak and slow. I placed the jacket over the bird and pulled it away from the window far too easily. I can easily see why Hubs called it a hawk, but I do think of hawks as being bigger than this young aviator. For sure, our young beauty sports a predator's hooked beak and strong, sharp talons.

Hubs was dressing GD while GS continued to look resistant to the notion of going to see "the hawk" when I carried the bird into the house. All previous dialog was quickly forgotten as they rushed to see the frightened little face peeking out of the jacket. GS was quick to point out that it was *his* jacket that saved the bird after we put the bird into a pet carrier and the jacket was *just* a jacket once more. After a dribbling some water into its open beak and a few failed attempts to get it to eat, I covered the cage with a light towel and tucked it into a warm corner for some rest and hopes of survival through the night. So far so good, as of last check.

So. . . The age old question I am sure all of us have asked. . . What do you feed a newly captured bird of prey?