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.

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