This is more common than most people think, certainly I’d never thought of it when I lived in the city and only fed the ducks down at the lake.
At least once in a lifetime, no matter where you live, you’ll come across a baby bird orphan. Perhaps laying on the road, your lawn on even on your front porch.
At that point, you’ll have to decide if you should rescue it or leave it to fend for itself?
In most cases, and yes I do know how hard it is to walk away from a helpless animal, it is best to let nature take its course without your intervention. Of course I say this, but I don’t always do this. Usually I’ll back off and sit nearby for an hour or so just to protect the orphaned baby bird from predators should they come by.
But making that decision – should I rescue or walk away – is hard. If the baby bird is fully feathered, chances are pretty good it doesn’t need our help anyway. Each spring, baby birds leave the nest and have to learn to be adults. Their parents are often watching nearby (something I’ve learned by sitting for an hour and waiting). The wild bird parents really are best equipped to take care of the babies. The best way to help these tiny fledglings is simply to keep dogs, cats and hawks away.
On the other hand, accidents do happen. So if the baby bird is unfeathered and you know the location of the nest, try to return it to the nest. You always want to have gloved hands (even slip your hands inside a few plastic shopping bags for the transfer) before touching wild birds of any sort.
If it’s not possible to put the unfeathered baby back in the nest, put the baby in a shoe box and cover it. Phone your local wildlife authority or take the orphaned bird directly to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Do not attempt to take care of that baby yourself. First off it will drive you crazy with it’s needs but also without knowing what species it is there is a good chance you can inadvertantly kill it by supplying the wrong food.
No matter what the ‘first aid for baby birds’ books say, a diet of human baby foods, ground hamburger meat, canned tuna, regular bird seed, milk, hard boiled eggs, or bread crumbs are not suitable for any unfeathered orphan.
Filed in: Wild Birds
Search by: baby bird, wild birds
18 Comments Posted
BirdAdvocate
February 23rd, 2007 at 3:20 pm
I always get injured or young to a qualified wildlife rehabilitator, after being certain the parents aren’t in attendance.
Here’s an url to an index.
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contact.htm.
Pat
May 7th, 2008 at 12:30 am
I have a bird nestin a hanging basket on a decking which had 4 babies in and they have some feathers on. Today I caught a big snake hanging in the basket eating them. There are 2 babies left now and the mom came back once, looked like she ate something and then took off. It is dark now and she hasn’t returned. I would like to know if there is something I can do. I do not know what kind of bird this is. I live in the foothills of Northern California. The bird has a light red breast and then dark black or brown stripes on the bottom. It’s about a little bigger than a sparrow. Thanks for any help.
Donna
May 26th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
We have been watching a blue bird sit on her next for sometime now and this morning we found her dead on the ground below her nest! We believe another bird killed her. She has two babies sitting in that nest still, what can we do?
HELP!!
Donna
June 2nd, 2008 at 10:15 am
A baby from the blue bird’s nest has fallen out of it and it appears it has a problem with it’s leg. What can we do?
The Mother is still feeding the baby.
Cara
June 18th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
After reading this I feel absolutely horrible about having taken care of a little bird for the last two days. He has feathers and can perch pretty well so I was told by the vet to give him small bites of hamburger meat and dropper size amounts off raw egg. He has gone to the bathroom a few times and I just put him in a tree in a small basket……..I can hear either his mom or brothers and sisters moving around in the rain gutter, but I don’t know what to do next. We put him back last night and this morning he was on the ground again. Have I ruined him for life?
Jenny
June 22nd, 2008 at 1:43 am
Just today, I had a baby Robin w/it’s parents observing trying to fly. I left for work at 8:30am, and when I got home around 7:30pm, I saw the parent sitting on my porch ledge w/a worm in its mouth vigorously chirping. I went outside, and discovered the baby had somehow gotten caught in a planter, and I had to pick it up and get it out. It was ok, but he just sat for about 1/2hr while the parent tried to encourage it to fly. It didn’t, so I slowly moved toward it, trying to get it to move towards the parent. It moved toward the parent, and I stepped back, and it still wouldn’t fly. It was either too tired, or just so scared. The parents later flew away and didn’t come back. Now it’s 12:30am, and it is still in my back yard next to a large tree. It’s feathered, but it still has baby spots. Is it old enough to be without its parents? Or, did he just wait too long, and the parents gave up on it? Will the parents try again to find the baby in the morning, or is it on its own now?
nick
October 15th, 2008 at 2:16 am
today my mum called me out to the back yard and she showed me a little bird all on it’s own. i felt really sorry for it so i got some bird seed and sat it near it aswell as some water in a leaf. it had all it’s feathers but it looked so defenceless and as i have cats i just sat there for a bit over an hour then realised that my presence was disturbing it so instead i put all my cats inside to try to protect it. i hope it survives.
Jill
December 12th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
a wren and her partner laid eggs on my back screen porch. it’s december 12 and today we found a baby was out hopping around on the floor. it is fully feathered and looks just like it’s parents. it cannot fly except for short low distances. isn’t it late for birds to be having babies in U.S./Georgia? the temp is dropping into the 20’s and some days the high is in the 40’s. please send me a response. i’ve never seen baby birds in the winter months in georgia. thanks.
Heidi
April 16th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
We were 3 month not at home and a grey bird buildt a nest between our front door and a wreath. It has babies covered with a few feathers in it, eyes are still closed. It is 8.20 pm and she was not here since since 6 hours. What can we do??? Who in Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg can we bring these baby birds? Please reply. Thank you!
Kyla
May 2nd, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Okay, we have a terrible snake issue. Also, there are baby birds! I am afraid for them! What should I do to make sure they live?
Ann Lambert
May 7th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
I have a birds nest on my porch with 5 babys approx 5-7 days old. I have not seen the Mom for a whole day but today found some bird feathers in the yard. I suspect it may be the mom. How and what could I feed them. Would appreciate a response asap. Thanks in advance.
Ann Lambert
Lisa
May 18th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
We just found a baby bird on the ground – It has thin down feathers and seems healthy. No parents appear to be around. We have used gloves and brought it in the house inside a cardboard box. We have several cats and dogs in the area – Not sure if we should try to feed it or let nature take its course.
Susan
May 22nd, 2009 at 12:47 pm
We have a baby cardinal in our backyard… he’s been fluttering around the yard for the last 2 days. Both nights, we put him back in the nest which is quite high up against a wall under the eaves. The parents are both around.. we hear them communicating. The baby is being fed by the parents, mostly the male. We have many stray cats and lots of squirrels and chipmunks who have shown interest in the little guy. We are concerned he may get hurt by one of them, but I have seen the parents attack a chipmunk when he got too close to the baby.
Should we just let nature take it’s course?? The parents seem to be leading the baby into our neighbours backyard which is completely covered with cedars and garbage (and chain link fencing).. it has been abandoned for many years, so it is in very bad shape. We worry that once the baby gets in there, he won’t be able to move, let alone fly.
He has some feathers, and he has flown a tiny bit close to the ground, mostly hopping.
Any advise would be appreciated.
PS we live in Stouffville, Ontario, Canada
nest down
June 3rd, 2009 at 10:57 am
pruning high branches i inadvertently dislodged a nest with 3 baby birds, one partially feathered, 2 mostly unfeathered. one died falling as the branch came down, i saved other 2 and put nest back on branch as best i could. i found a couple worms and gave them worms when mouths were opened. During night rain appears to have broken down nest and they fell again. both survived. i put a small box in the tree with paper towel lining and put htem in there. I dont think they are going to make it. I was digging for worms @ 6:30 am this am could only find 1 *!#% worm. gave it to healthier looking bird. I feel terrible about destroying their nest and the bird family. Im very sorry for that. My wife didnt seem too concerned about it tho.
jessie
June 6th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
There’s a birds nest right out the window and my dog barks so loud and scares the mom away when shes about to feed them what can i do to prevent the birds from dieing of no food?
Kaylee
June 20th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
I have a Bluebird nesting box at my house and today I found a dead adult bluebird in my yard. We have babies in the box so I want to know if I should feed them or take care of them. There are five and I don’t want to see them die!!!
If you have an answer, please reply!
Carol Wolfe
July 26th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
We found two baby doves in a nest and we believe the mother was killed as we saw her on the nest last week but found a lot of feathers in the road the other day. The birds are fairly big and breathing but they are very quiet and don’t look very well. What should we do?
Carol Wolfe
July 26th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Good news! Mama bird is back!