It isn't always happy news.

Today's entry is not a happy one but it is as nature is,
Cruel, sometimes very cruel.

As I told you, we live next to an exotic animal breeder.
They live behind us so we have his huge field next to us.
This field has birds. Now not just any run of the mill birds
but Rheas.
Rheas are the smallest of the ratite family.
The Ostrich, the emus and then the rhea.
They grow to be about the size of me.
Now I don't care what sort of creatures he may have at his place,
nothing, and I mean nothing compares to the beauty of these
flightless birds.

They come in 2 colors white and brown/grey dark.
I am not sure what makes me love these odd looking long legged birds.
During mating season the males would attack you in a heart beat with
their long toe nail. They could slice you open if they had a chance.

The Dads do it all.
The Moms only job is to produce eggs.
The Dads sit on the eggs till they hatch and then teach the little ones the basis.
The novelty wears off after about 3 weeks, they are no longer in the
Father mind set but once again in the breeding mind set.
It is at this stage that the babies are gathered before predatory birds
continue with the feeding chain.

About 4 weeks ago the first of the babies were born. What an exciting time.
There were eight of them 3 white and 5 dark.
It was a pure magic. How in the world can those things come out of an egg that size.
How uncomfortable they must I been in there.

After about 2 weeks it was time for another nest to be hatching and sure enough
I could see little heads popping up from under Daddy's wing.
Well.... the first Daddy must have seen this as the perfect opportunity to be
relieved of his parenting duties. He strolled by that nest and while his babies
we checking things out and taking a real interest in the brand new hatched babies
he took off and never looked back.

So Daddy #2 is busy trying to hatch his babies while fighting off the other guys kids
by snapping and tossing if they got to close.
It was getting late and one by one I could see the older children running under their
adopted Dad. and settling in for the night.

But the next morning not a one of the older babies were there. We looked everywhere.
Nature is very cruel. The adopted Dad probably stood up in the night, saw those new kids and kicked them out to fend for themselves. Was probably some type of predatory bird that got them since there were no sign what-so-ever of the little darlings. Not a feather, beak or leg to be found anywhere.

So now the new daddy has 12 beautiful children to take care of 4 little white ones and 8 of the dark one. The next day one of the dark ones is missing. How quickly word is spread of a new restaurant opened.
But I once again can't wait to go and see how these little thing grow and continue to count them several times a day.
3 days ago I wasn't counting enough white ones and off in the distance I see a little white tuff bobbing up and down. I get my danger stick out to ward dad off and proceed to investigate that white tuff. You guessed it, I had found the little white one unable to right himself. The only thing I could think of was that Daddy stepped on him and had hurt him, one hip was bigger than the other.
I take him home and comforted him, force feed him since he clearly can not feed himself.
I call my friend Betty, the rehabilitator, she said to confine him for a few days. I do as told then the following day I make up a sling so no weight is on that sore looking hip.
The next day another white one is missing. I call the breeder to let him know and he tells me that he has picked it up. Was struggling out in the field. I went and got it, Now I have 2. Both with 1 swollen hip, and they are dark where they are swollen.
Poor babies I do what I can for them. But that afternoon the second one I got died. It is awful to be so helpless. The black area had turned green. The next morning the first baby I picked up was dead too. His black swollen hip had turned green as well.

We are now just watching the rest of the beautiful babies they all look strong and healthy.
I hope they continue to remain that way.
What happened to these 2 precious angels, best guess is a virus of some sort. Exotics are in a class by themselves. Very hard to find Vets to take on the challenge of their care. So many crazy people are looking for a lawsuit claim.

I am sorry my first tale was sad, but nature is very cruel. The unknown is scary. I do what I can to protect and save.
I promise my next post will not be an unhappy tale.