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
6 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?