What am I supposed to do with a baby bird?

[glassquill]

I'm at my wits end. Hopefully the kind people here would be able to offer advice.


I found a young sparrow by the roadside on my way home after buying groceries. As far as I can tell, it's not full grown. It has feathers but I don't think it's learned to fly yet. When I approached it, it just tried to hop away. It didn't make any attempt to fly even though its wings looked normal. I took it home because that area has plenty of traffic as well as stray cats. If I left it there, it would either be kitty dinner or road kill.

Now, I only have one problem. One big problem. :( What am I supposed to do with it? How do I take care of it? It's sitting in a shoe box in my bathroom at the moment. Help!

[Little Red Barn]

Oh, if you had moved it away from the street, perhaps by a bush, the mother would have come back. Hmm, I've taken baby birds to Zoo here as they will take them in. Will they do so there?

[Little Red Barn]

And also call the vet, they'll have suggestions--you should be able to find a 24/7 one. It needs feeding -- soon probably.

[melaniehoo]

Put a little water & mushed food in there. My in-laws have pet birds and besides birdseed, they sometimes give them crackers. Since it's a baby, though, it may not know how to eat on it's own.

I'm sure it'll last till morning when you can call animal control. They'll know what to do. Good luck. :)

[sunna]

Hmmm. Does it seem to have all its feathers? They actually spend a day or two hopping around before they learn to fly, if they're fledged and not hurt, I think. Their parents take care of them, but they kind of stay on the ground until they figure out what their wings are for.

If you don't think it's a good idea to return it to where it was, I'm not sure...you might want to get a bird cage, in that case. :D I think pet stores carry a formula or maybe a just-add-water type meal, delivered via dropper, for the young-uns.

Ok, that's my best halfway educated guess: I've never raised birds from the baby stage myself, just seen it done.

Good luck whatever you decide to do!

[rubarbb]

Ummm...dinner...

[Little Red Barn]

Take an eyedropper or make one and try to feed... No wait, Hmm it probably needs worms. I'll go try and research.

[Little Red Barn]

Yes, glass, take it back and it'll probably survive. Just watch from your car--mother will come along.

[Little Red Barn]

Here you go!
http://www.starlingtalk.com/babycare.htm
Good luck!

[Don Allen]

If it's asking for food thats a good thing and you want to feed it because little birds are like generaters and will die without energy. The eyedropper is a good idea, If you have some Caro syrup the clear stuff (not Mrs butterworths) give him a few drops tonight and again in th morning. Otherwise mix some sugar and water together, they need the fix. If he's a little older then the worm mashing is the thing to do. You'll be surprised, a week or two and he'll be ready to go....

[Little Red Barn]

If it's asking for food thats a good thing and you want to feed it because little birds are like generaters and will die without energy. The eyedropper is a good idea, If you have some Caro syrup the clear stuff (not Mrs butterworths) give him a few drops tonight and again in th morning. Otherwise mix some sugar and water together, they need the fix. If he's a little older then the worm mashing is the thing to do. You'll be surprised, a week or two and he'll be ready to go....
No, Don't feed it water or attempt--Here you go!

http://www.starlingtalk.com/babycare.htm Look at this first.

ETA: don't want to drown the lil, darln, Don! :)

[glassquill]

:Hug2: Thanks for the advice, everyone. I really appreciate it.


I suppose the best thing for the little thing is to take it back. But there's nowhere safe for it back there. I'm still trying to figure out how it got on the walkway between a deep drain with stagnant water and a busy road. A couple more hops in the wrong direction and baby bird will go a-swimming or get turned into a birdy pancake.

Vet's no help. Apparently sparrows aren't worth caring for. Animal control? Hah! They're good at controlling animals, alright. By shooting stray dogs. :rant: The rights of animals are as close to nil in this country. Had a case a year ago where a man allowed his dogs to die a long, painful death by utterly neglecting them. What did he get for that? A 300 dollar fine. That's all. For comparison, if you speed, you get slapped with a 500 dollar fine.

Looks like I'll have to try mushed food and eyedroppers. I just hope I don't make a mistake and kill it. :e2cry:

[SHBueche]

I would try to call the nearest wildlife rescue center, to see if there are area volunteers trained in caring for wild birds. Also, I'm afraid to say this, but everytime I've found a bird (and called the wildlife rescue) the bird has made a day or two at the most, and then died. The experts have told me that when you find a bird not able to fly, they typically are in very bad shape and not expected to live.


But please, please keep us posted on the latest, thanks.

[oarsman]

There was a thread about baby birds here (http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=70173) a few months ago. Maybe it will help.

[scarletpeaches]

Sammiches.

[WendyNYC]

I took care of a baby bird once. I can't remember exactly what I fed it, but someone gave you a link that could help. I remember feeding it constantly with an eyedropper. They need food like every 3 hours or so. I even took it to my office and hid it under my desk for a couple of days. I found a wildlife rescue center and they took him.

[eldragon]

That Starling website might give you good general information about saving or rehabbing baby birds, but Starlings eat bugs (protein) and sparrows don't.

(Correct me if I'm wrong.)


So don't go by that websites diet information. Just guessing, I'd think sparrows would eat some mushy oats or mashed up seeds.

But check the internet.

Sorry I can't help more.

PS ..the most important thing is keeping it warm.

[veinglory]

As has been mentioned there is an entirely natural phase in fledging where the bird leaves the nest but cannot fly. General advice is to simply leave them. It is a risky period in bird life but quite normal.

[shakeysix]

i did this once with a baby kinglet. catfood on a strand of uncooked spaghetti. it really works. my birdy fledged out and learned to fly--s6

[glassquill]

Thanks again for the advice. :Hug2:

Update on the little bird. I checked on it this morning and it's certainly looking much better today. It's hopping around and testing out its wings. :)

[shakeysix]

i kept mine in a wooden and screened cage that i borrowed from the biology lab. i think her folks were around watching all the time, staying in touch. i kept her on my deck. she dropped out of a tree in my back yard. while i was gardening. right at my feet--plop! she didn't even have any feathers. i thought she was a goner but the county extension agent had me call a wildlife ranger who told me the catfood trick. s6

[Schoolmarm]

We hand-raised two baby pigeons that were injured in falls from the top of a silo. It was an interesting process requiring special food we bought at the local feed store (chick starter, which we ground finer in the coffee grinder), feeding with an eyedropper, and a lot of patience, but both birds survived nicely. One was probably damaged more than the other as he never learned to fly forwards and eventually disappeared into the cornfield. We had lots of experience in this area as my daughter was breeding finches and button quail as a hobby. It's important to know how to read the fullness of the bird's crop and other signals that you're feeding enough or too much.

Even a small bird requires a flight cage or daily flying lessons. Any smaller enclosure will doom him to a dependency on you for life. Not good. And feeding him anything that he woudn't eat naturally is a no-no. That goes for all the sugar-water concoctions, diluted cat food and the rest. Buy the good stuff or you risk causing damage in your effort to help. It's easy to unbalance a delicate system.

HOWEVER . . . I don't think this one needs all that much help. My barn is always full of fledging birdlings--sparrows, house finches and barn swallows. They look awkward and seem to hop around aimlessly forever, but in a couple of days they're airborne. If the bird doesn't take flight within a week, he's probably injured enough to be what we call non-viable. We just leave them alone.

A word of advice: Nature may seem cruel, but the vast majority of wild critters survive nicely without our intervention. We tend to screw up the system when we step in, and it's rarely a good thing. I cast my vote with those posters who say you should return him to the area where you found him (not the exact spot, just somewhere nearby) and let him learn to be a bird. If the location isn't to your liking, then at least leave him somewhere where he has access to grass (bugs) and water and can work on his fledging in peace.

If he's fledged, his parents aren't likely to go looking for him. They're the ones who knocked him out of the nest in the first place! :D Only the tufted titmouse lives in a multi-generational extended-family setting. Your guy is ready to be on his own.

[glassquill]

A happy update! :D

The little one has flown away!

I was cleaning out the box and putting in fresh water when it hopped out of the other box that I had put it in. I looked up in time to see it go straight into the bush at the bottom of the garden.

If it stays there, it should be alright. We have plenty of birds running around as it is and no cats in the neighbourhood. :)

ETA: A big thank you and hugs all round to everyone here. You've all be of great help!

[eldragon]

Good news!

I hope he flies off, because cats really are everywhere.


(Especially in my yard.)

[Schoolmarm]

Excellent news!

[Soccer Mom]

Wonderful news. I'm late to the party on this one. I've done quite a bit of wild bird rescue and I have to say that the best things I've fed them have been babyfood. Yes, human babyfood. There used to be an egg yolk one that was great for the little critters. I also fed them pureed beef heart.

Glad the little dear has flown.

[awatkins]

Yay! :hooray:

[melaniehoo]

That's a relief!

[HeronW]

Any pet store should have live mealy worms, the same that they feed pet lizards. Carefully drop in the bird's mouth with rounded-end tweezers as much as he'll eat every 3-4 hours. Put tepid water in an eyedropper and a few drops every meal will help keep him hydrated. If he's able to sip from a small shallow bowl, even better. Keep him warm and change the lining paper in his box whenever it's soiled.

Raising wild baby birds is very difficult. I wish you the best.

[Fenika]

Mealworms have the nutritional content of cardboard (those from the store anyways). And not all baby birds should be eatting them. Find a proper rehabber and deliver wild animals there. It will get medical care, a proper diet, and a chance to be released.

It is illegal and cruel to raise a wild animal yourself.

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/ for more info.