What to do with Little Doomed Baby Birds

[Jürgen Hubert]

I discovered a baby bird hopping around a local parking lot. It was obvious that it couldn't fly yet, and also obvious that it wouldn't be able to climb up from the asphalt to the lawn surrounding it.

So I put it up on a tree with the help of a towel (I didn't touch it directly), but felt slightly foolish for doing so. After all, have I really done anything other than prolonging its suffering - causing it to starve instead of getting squashed by a car?

What would you have done under those circumstances? Oh, and can anyone tell me what kind of bird this is?

 

[The_Warlock]

I would put it in a shoebox while I did a google search for injured wild animal santuaries in the local area, and if that didn't pan out, I'd call the local animal control agency or MSPCA to see if they knew of such a place.

Where I live in Western Massachusetts, there a couple such places, and in fact that was precisely what I did when my coworkers and I came across a young and possibly injured bird that was obviously new from the nest a few years back.

Got the address, and took my little baby bird in a box for about a 20 minute drive where it could be raised and released back into the wild.

 

[Chimera]

Two words: Andrew Zimmer.

 

[bento]

Teach your children a valuable lesson about not straying too far away?

Feed the cat/dog?



Erm, that's all I got.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Oh the cats have a new toy! Does kitty want the bird? Yes kitty does!

 

[MrFilthyIke]

I would put it in a shoebox while I did a google search for injured wild animal santuaries in the local area, and if that didn't pan out, I'd call the local animal control agency or MSPCA to see if they knew of such a place.

Where I live in Western Massachusetts, there a couple such places, and in fact that was precisely what I did when my coworkers and I came across a young and possibly injured bird that was obviously new from the nest a few years back.

Got the address, and took my little baby bird in a box for about a 20 minute drive where it could be raised and released back into the wild.

What they said/did.

 

[Ampolitor]

hmm

well actually some birds live on the ground, shrub birds like cardinals, they're supposed to be hopping around on the ground and the parents come and feed it. Also people say that if you touch them that the parents won't go near them, thats a huge myth and not true at all. I had several baby birds like that in my back yard, one was a cardinal that eventually flew off on his own.

 

[Heckler]

Its hard for me to tell what kind of bird that is, but my best guess would be some kind of sparrow. It likely might also be a starling or robin.

 

[Harmon]

I called the local SPCA once about a bird that I caught that had been hurt, took the bird to their office. They could not save it.

I asked what they did with most birds, and was told something like- "we rehab less then 10% of the birds that come through here."

The rescue of a single little bird, that fell from a nest, chances are slim to none that the little one will make it. Mercy is a kindness in most cases.

 

[MonkeyDragon]

The bird appears to be hopping around spunkily, so it's entirely possible that just putting it out of reach of immediate danger will be enough to give it a chance. Its parents can continue to feed it until it's fledged. Baby birds do sometimes take little fights before they're ready, and if they're healthy they just hop around until they're strong enough to achieve vertical.