Posted on 05/10/2013 10:58:41 PM PDT by djf
I have a birdhouse on my back porch. About a month ago, I looked inside with a flashlight and there was an egg.
A week or ten days ago, it hatched. Since then, the parent birds have been flying back and forth seems like 25 hours a day carrying grubs, bugs, I dunno, whatever baby birds eat.
BTW, it is a chickadee or a sparrow, just one of those small, nondescript grey songbirds.
The parents are very wary and stay in the distance when I am on the back porch.
Today, I go on the back porch, I have a small piece of wood to cut, I fire up my circular saw and feel something bounce off my back. I look around, don't see the parents, but on the ground near the porch is this little baby bird.
Sucker has eyebrows like Leonid Brezhnev!
So I carefully as I can pick it up and put it back in the next. Now I have heard in the past about NEVER touching baby wildlife because the parents might just leave them - and I am not sure, but He's alone in the nest now, and the parents seem to have retreated somewhere.
So what should I do? Try to feed it? I don't want it croaking on my back porch. What would it eat? Worms? Grubs? Should I get crickets or something from a pet supply store?
Any ideas?
Take it to a veterinarian. Wrap it up in a clean tissue, and gentle carry it. The vet will explain what to do from there.
Take it to a veterinarian. Wrap it up in a clean tissue, and gentle carry it. The vet will explain what to do from there.
Its a myth.
The parent will not reject it if you touch it.
Put it back and leave it alone(if you can).Do try to feed it.It doesn’t like humans.
Parent can see you looking up there and screwing with it and will stay away.
You scared the youngen with the saw.
Next year dont allow a nest to be built.This year remove that one some reuse them all season.
I have been watching one above my garage spot light...Came home yesterday and it was on the ground and all 5 eggs were gone.
Damn Blue Jay or Crow
DONT try to feed it
It was ejected from the nest for a reason. Let nature take it’s course and let the bird die.
Not true about parent birds abandoning if you touch the baby. We have had nests blow out of trees in storms. I fixed a small box with rope, put straw and sticks in it, put the baby birds in and put it back up in the tree. Parents resumed feeding and caring for the baby birds.
Leave them plenty of room and they will be back to care for the birdie.
We had one of those once. Hopped around the back yard trying to fly. We called him Hoppy. One day he was gone...
Good news this morning!
Even though I looked in the nest about 2 am and he was alone, now that it’s light out the parents are back.
There’s a sound they make when they are agitated, kind of a long Brrrrrrzzzzzztttt... as soon as I opened the back door, they were on the fence making the sound, so I closed the door most of the way, and one flew right onto the porch. So I can only hope all is well.
Not an expert, by any means, but some of the answers you are getting here are just dumb.
My advice would be to just leave it and stay away from the bird house. The parents will be back. The thing about the parents’ rejecting a bird that has been touched by a human is an old wives’ tale, as nearly all species of bird have no sense of smell.
These are only anecdotal, to be sure, but I submit them, nonetheless.
My SIL found a nest of cardinals on the ground several years ago. She and her husband brought the group into the living room and attempted to feed the babies. They seemed to be doing okay, but the Good Samaritans were relieved of their duties the next morning because the cardinal parents were raising a heck of a racket by pecking at the picture window.
While I was visiting my sister a few years ago, we just happened to be walking in her yard to survey a spot for a flower bed that I was to put in for her. Strange because we normally would not have been right there in her yard, where we found a hatchling on the ground in a clump of grass, apparently blown out of the nest by the strong winds.
There was an adult bird in a nearby tree raising a ruckus. And we assumed that it was the mother, so we looked for a nest in the tree we presumed the baby fell from and put it in there. We were relieved to see the adult fly to that tree.
The parents will be around to care for him/her as long as they are needed......as it grows and strengthens, it will HAVE to come down to the ground to develop it’s flying skills...they are vulnerable, but if the parents are good parents, they will stay around to ward off predators. The babies stay hopping around on the ground for hours/day(s), seeking cover, until they are strong enough with feathers developed enough to get them up, up and away! Even though you WANT to help him/her, the best thing to do is leave it on the ground, the parents will protect it and it will soon be able to fly away! The parents will continue to protect it and bring it food, even on the ground. Birds are amazingly good parents with good instincts.
That is the best comment yet!
Its probably leaving the nest and ready to fly. Just leave it alone. The parents are nearby. They stick around until the babies are flying on their own. We just had one fly off a couple of days ago.
I agree. Do not feed it. Do not take it to a veterinarian. Save the money and go out for a nice chicken dinner.
I believe the notion about touching has been debunked, but who knows, it may be on a bird-by-bird basis. All you need do is to find live bugs for a week or so until it can fly. Or move the location away from your house so the parents can hopely continue feeding.
Miles, you’ve gone too liberal.
We did the same thing. The pet store had a mix with water stuff and a plunger to suck it up and feed him with. He would come running when he saw me with it. Lol
The myth about birds rejecting their young after they are touched by humans is also untrue.
Listen to Taylor. : )
A few minutes ago I actually observed the parents back and feeding him. So all is not lost!
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