Helping Wild Baby Birds
First consider:
- Is the chick fully feathered? If the bird is fully feathered, chances are it doesn't need your help. Each spring, baby birds leave the nest and have to learn to be adults. Their parents are nearby. They're best equipped to take care of the babies. You can help fledglings by keeping your dogs and cats in the house.
- If the bird is unfeathered, try to return it to the nest. If that's not possible; if there is no nest or the chick appears to be sickly or injured, put the baby in a shoe box and cover it. Get the bird to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. Do not attempt to take care of it yourself. After all, do you know what kind of bird it is? Do you know what to feed it? No matter what the "first aid for baby birds" books at the library say, you will kill baby birds if you offer them a diet of human baby foods, hamburger meat, tuna, bird seed, milk, hard boiled eggs, bread or water.
- More on this topic below ... If hand-raising is necessary, please visit Handraising Wild Bird Chicks
Helping Baby Birds
They're probably not orphans
Summer is the season when the baby bird shows up on the lawn. Irresistibly vulnerable. So cute you really want to take it home and feed it and take care of it.
But it's a good time to reflect on what is really going on in the baby bird's life.
Why baby birds leave the nest
Most birds are ready to leave the nest before they can fly or get their own food. It's because the nest gets to be such a dangerous place as the young birds grow. The nestlings chirp their heads off, begging their parents to bring them food. They can't stay hidden any longer. The whole nest is just one big tempting mouthful for a squirrel, hawk, or climbing cat.
At this point it's perfectly normal for the baby birds to flop out of the nest and land on the ground. From then on they are no longer nestlings. They have fledged, and they are now fledglings.
If there are some shrubs nearby, the parents will coax the youngsters into thick vegetation and then continue to take care of them while the fledglings hide and continue developing. After a few weeks, they will be able to find their own food, and soon they'll be on their own.
But in their first minutes or hours out of the nest, sometimes we see a fledgling out on the lawn, looking lost and abandoned. Naturally, we want to help.
Not up for adoption!
The bird's parents are very much taking care of it, and they know better what to do for their baby than we do. So resist the temptation. Don't adopt. It's not an orphan.
You can help though. The main danger is getting eaten, especially in a residential neighborhood where there are many outdoor cats. The fledgling can often benefit from some assistance getting into a hidden location soon.
Your helping hand
Pick up the bird in your hands. Or better yet a towel. Hold the fledgling firmly enough that it can't injure itself by struggling. Put it into the nearest thick bush or tree, where it can scramble into the safety of foliage.
The parents will hear its chirps and will bring it food. It's innate behavior. They're programmed to continue caring for that baby. Just put it where it can hide, while as close as possible to where you found it.
Don't be too concerned about which bush or tree the nest was in. Even if you must go next door or across the street to find suitable foliage, the parents will easily find the baby from its cries.
Reunited!
If your child has brought the bird home, you can still put it back in the area where it was found. The sooner the better, but even after hours have elapsed, or the next day, the baby will have a better chance if you return it to its parents.
They will not abandon it just because it's been touched by a human. Songbirds have less sense of smell than we humans do, and they won't smell you on their fledgling. Besides, they want their baby back. They'll welcome it and will get right back to work feeding it.
You can watch from a distance or through a window from inside a house. Within an hour, you should see a parent bird enter the bush where you put their baby.
It's good to give a helping hand, and then let nature be.
--Diane Porter
But what, if you know that the chick is in distress, the parents are dead or have left for some reason. Please visit this website for information on how one of the AvianWeb visitors dealt with this situation.
Photo, Video and/or Article contributions are welcome! Please click here for info
The Avianweb strives to maintain accurate and up-to-date information; however, mistakes do happen. If you would like to correct or update any of the information, please send us an e-mail. THANK YOU!
