“ I JUST FOUND AN ABANDONED BABY BIRD “
By, Rick Kedenburg – NYS Wildlife Rehabilitator
This is a common phrase heard by Wildlife Rehabilitators each spring. The person on the other end of the line then usually asks, “What should I do?" The surprising answer is Nothing.
There are many myths about birds, some work to their disadvantage. Let’s try to dispel some of them now. First, when I tell people to do nothing I am not being heartless. Most passerines – chiefly our woodland perching birds – do partially fledge from their nests before they can truly fly. The reason for this is confusing. Some speculate that after a period of time the nest becomes fowl and emits an odor. This would make the young more susceptible to predation by such animals as the Raccoon and snake. For whatever reason they do jump early and this is normal. The young birds can usually fly a short distance and quickly make for the nearest hedgerow or other cover. The parents continue to look after and feed the young at these lower perches. They are learning all the time from their parents how to forage and fend for themselves. They also learn of the specific songs and calls of their species. Essential things to know in the bird world.
A person in all good conscience may believe they are helping a baby that has no parents and will scoop them up and try to take them to a proper shelter. Humans can of course feed and raise them, but these birds stand a much lower chance of survival than those raised by their own parents. Sometimes by happenstance baby birds that cannot fly at all do accidentally fall out of the nest. Many people say that they would put them back in the nest but the young will have the smell of humans and be abandoned. This is another myth. Most birds, Vultures and others excepted, do not have a sense of smell. Birds rely mostly on their senses of sight and sound for their survival. It’s perfectly all right to put the babies right back into the nest. If the whole nest has fallen, place it and the young back in the original position or as high up as you can safely manage. Remember this, birds raised by humans become imprinted. This means they think they are human. Because of this they are not wary of humans and other predators and have an extremely low survival rate. Keeping intervention to a minimum is the best thing you can do for any wildlife, young or mature.
For more information on this topic please visit http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/6956.html.