A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 Poor Baby Bird.......

I was down watering under the birdhouse tonight and noticed one of the blackbirds tiny baby birds laying there on the mulch.....It looked hurt and wasn't moving too much, but it was breathing....I called Mark down so he could pick it up and stick it back in the birdhouse......I sure hope the little fella makes it.....

And I just did my research tonight and read that the fledlings have this happen a lot....that some days they'll be out on the ground for a few days until they can fly, and that the momma just feeds them where they are.....now that bothers me because we have tons of stray cats around and I'll be worried sick about the little babies sitting down there on the ground.....

Did we do the right thing to put it back? It was hurt and I couldn't leave it on the ground, it hurt my heart .......I'm a big softie deep down and I love my birdies.....I'll go chasing cats away in my nightgown at 5 AM looking like a wild woman to the neighbors that are watching--that's how much a love them.....I guess from now on I should just leave them on the ground, huh????? Just seems mean.....

Also interesting to note that you don't have to wear gloves when handling them.....everyone always says that the mother bird will smell you on their baby and not come back, but everywhere I've read says that it's not true....that birds sense of smell is terrible....

Well I don't know if it was right or wrong, but it sure is what I would have done!

Interesting, I'd also always been told that mother animals will abandon babies that have been handled by humans.

I hope that your research proves itself to be accurate.

No doubt!
It's got a much better chance of survival where you put it vs. where a cat can get it.


...and a cat woulda got it!

I think you did the right thing to. I would have!. Then kept an eye out for if it comes out again. I know how you feel about watchin the wild be wild. Shocked me the first time I saw a red tail hawk come in my back yard in the winter and snatch up one of my birds I had been feeding thru the winter.
Good luck, I hope it makes it. So nice to watch the babies learning to fly.

Elfie

That was sweet of you, Laura, to help the baby bird out of danger. Have you seen it since you put him back in his nest?

Dianna

Having been raised in the country and around animals, I am used to nature's ways. But we always always try to save baby birds. Even starlings...and I don't want starlings on the place usually!

Well I knew a cat would get it if I left it there because we have a lot of strays, and I just couldn't have that.......the sad thing is I don't think it made it..... I saw it inside the birdhouse and it wasn't moving. I found another dead birdie down below the birdhouse today too.......

The sad thing is, my mom found a dead baby bird today too below one of her birdhouses......

Tammy, I read on about 4 different sites the same thing about handling baby birds, so I think it must be accurate--I just googled baby bird fell out of nest and a lot of different sites popped up.....Mark of course wore a glove though when he put the baby back in just to be on the safe side......

I guess this is natures way of taking it's course......before long we'll open the birdhouse up and clean it out and I'll be able to see how many eggs were hatched......2 of them have died now, so hopefully there are more than 2 eggs and at least one bird made it okay.....

Hi Loz. I know you did the right thing putting that baby bird back. Thought I'd share a baby bird story with you too.

I had the most amazing experience last summer... to me anyway. Three sparrows had fallen from the nest and were abandoned, so my husband (being the softy that he is) brought them in. They were barely living and didn't even have feathers yet. I thought, "OMG! What am I supposed to do with them!?!" So I read up on them and ended up raising them here in the house. I even helped teach them to fly. And no... it wasn't by example. lol.

I'd hold them up high and pull my hands down slowly and they'd start fluttering. Eventually they started taking off for a few clumsy seconds and then come right back to my hand or shoulder (or head, whatever they could grab onto in a pinch.)

I did release them before they became too attached so I'm sure I did it all right. Before they left though, they got pretty comfortable flying around the house and it was SO COOL! (With the exception of a bit of bird poop here & there. lol) At first it took a little while for them to completely leave home though. When I'd let them go, they would fly around the trees a bit and then come back and land on my shoulder, or come right into the house and have a nap on one of my plants for an hour here and there. They did that for about two weeks, but then one day they came home with a boyfriend. He stuck around if I stayed inside and ate some of my homemade birdbread with them for a few more days and then I started see less and less of them. I think he helped show them the ropes and they went back to their wild ways. Now I know why they refer to our kids as "leaving the nest". lol

I've been watching to see if they'll come back and see their 'mom' this year. What a sap, huh? lol. Anyway, that's my National Geographic moment. I was touched by your post and thought I'd share this.

Suzy

suzy, that is too cool! and no, you aren't anymore of a sap than the rest of us here!!!