Baby bird season - do's and dont's!

Thank you Ian. 

This sticky will be very useful - we know we will be getting a lot of queries and questions about seemingly "lost" baby birds in the coming months if last year was anything to go by. 

Thanks for this Ian, I'm still a newbie to bird feeding so it's always great to see threads like this.

I actually had an encounter with a fledgling last summer - the little one just appeared on our patio from nowhere and just sat there, completely frozen whilst our cat was nearby, trying to make out what it was. Thankfully I was alerted by my cat and went outside and brought her indoors (much to her annoyance). The fledglings parents then appeared and when I next looked he/she had gone.

Thank you Ian for such a timely reminder

Yes Ian, this is a very good time to remind us all. As Linda said, we had loads of enquiries last year and it would be good to point people at this thread instead of repeating the advice each time.

Thank you

Pipit

Hi Ian

Thank you for this reminder as this Forum had a lot of threads relating to this subject last year...and it was apparent that people wanted to help 'young birds' with a kind heart attached, but it was not the right thing to do at all

A sticky in the Hello area of the Forum, might be a good place for it so 'new' members can read it before they post anything related to baby birds at all

I hope to see our baby Blackbirds this year most of all.  We where lucky to see baby blackbirds in Scotland and the 2 baby birds sat close together on a pathway to our house and I watched them to see if they where okay and that was all.  Mum and dad do look after them very well indeed

Regards

Kathy and Dave

Thankyou Ian as said, a great reminder .

I  would like to add that  Blackbirds are not able to fly when they fledge and stay on the ground for a few days.We often had them brought in because people think they have been abandoned if they remain in one place for a while, without parents.Thankfully, not usually the case and we always saw to it the bird was put back as close as possible to where it was found.

Hello Ian,

Thank you for reminding us all what to do and not to do with baby birds, as I am sure our female blackbird is making her nest and sooner or later we will have the young ones on our table.

What sort of food should we put out when the birds have their offspring?

from

Jenny

Hi Ian

Thank you very much for this timely reminder. :-)

Thank you for the info, I love birds and have been watching them for a long time but I still wouldn't know what to do and what not to do

I hope lots of people are still reading this thread. We are now well into the time of year I dread at the sanctuary where I volunteer. We do take in injured and distressed birds for rehabilitation and release and many people are directed to us. Since we are specialists in Owls and Birds of Prey we inevitably end up with "abandoned" Tawny Owl chicks. Of course they are not abandoned at all.

Tawny Owls tend to nest in very small spaces ( see the BTO videos of a Tawny in a nest box on YouTube at the moment) and as the chicks grow very rapidly they soon find life a bit cramped for good muscle and feather development. The chicks go 'branching' long before they can fly so they often end up on the ground. However by using eight very long sharp claws, a usefully curved beak and a bit of 'lift' from fluttering wings they can fairly rapidly climb almost vertical tree trunks! I have seen a video of this happening but can't find it at the moment but search YouTube and you may get to it.

Even if the chick does not manage to climb up again the parents very easily find it and will continue to feed it. Remember that Tawny Owls hunt largely by using their ears - they can hear a mouse's heart beat - so they are unlikely to overlook the exceeding loud contact/begging calls of their own offspring! Having reared a number of owls take my word for it they are noisy!

So please, everyone, spread the word to take Ian's advice above!

Jenni

Hi Jenny

For a start this is a great thread to keep people straight about young birds and it is well written by Ian to get a point across about young birds.

Jenny: I would place soaked mealworms for feeding parents.

Avoid foods such as loose whole peanuts as birds like Blue Tits might try to feed their youngsters with them and cause them to choke.

Regards

Kathy and Dave

Jennilien

Hello Ian,

Thank you for reminding us all what to do and not to do with baby birds, as I am sure our female blackbird is making her nest and sooner or later we will have the young ones on our table.

What sort of food should we put out when the birds have their offspring?

from

Jenny

Thanks for this.  We have just "rescued" a baby blackbird from the road and brought it home, but we'll now take it back and put it nearby where found it.

Moray

Thanks for this.  We have just "rescued" a baby blackbird from the road and brought it home, but we'll now take it back and put it nearby where found it.

 

Good on you Moray and a timely reminder :0) to all.

Hi Ian, thanks for the advice. I di actually know most of the dos and don'ts but now find myself torn. I have two fledglings in the garden, blackbirds I believe. One has been hopping around since 1pm today, keeps calling his parents. I can't hear the parents calling back. Now he/she found its way to our doorstep. It's quite funny in some ways. But I can't keep thinking he's been abandoned, surely like you say the parents would have led him to safety by now. Also, the other chick is now nearly dead, it's much smaller than the lively one and is now lying on its side not moving. It's very sad and I don't know what to do. I've now tried to feed them but neither opened their beaks. Please help. Thank you very much!