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So, you've found a baby bird on the ground and want to know what to do?
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Any bird that you need to chase to capture....DOES NOT NEED
YOUR HELP. Leave it alone and don't chase it. You'll cause a
condition called capture cardiac myopathy and very possibly - the animals death.
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Birds with injured wings who can still use their legs to run away
and escape predation, should never be
chased. Leave them alone. There's a good possibility they may heal on their own. Try not to
interfere.
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A 'nestling' baby bird is one whose eyes are not yet opened,
and is still covered in fuzzy down. You can fashion a 'nest' out of a
berry basket (slots on the side) or use a clean margarine container in which
you've punched holes in the bottom for drainage. Line it with some dry
grass and attach it under some branches in the nearest tree to where you
found it, as high off the ground as you can.
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DO NOT FEED the bird. It needs to be chirping and
calling to it's parents for food. If they are in the area, they will
continue to feed it in your makeshift nest.
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A 'fledgling' baby bird is one who has left the nest and is
about to learn to fly - from the ground! This process can take a few days
and you need to let it happen.
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If you can easily identify the species (e.g. "It's a baby
blue jay") then it's a fledgling. Fledglings resemble the adults, but have
short tails, may still have some pin feathers and fuzzy bits of down here
and there. There is nothing wrong with their legs, they can use them
to run and hide.
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If a fledgling is just sitting there, looking stunned, it
probably is. It's the first time seeing a human and it has likely just
'frozen' there. It will initially be naive, but if you get out of the
way, and out of the area, it's parents will find it and coax it into a shrub
for cover.
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Fledglings may also sit there fluttering their wings rapidly
and beg for food, or sit with their wings drooping. Even after they learn to
fly, they will continue to shamelessly beg for food from their parents.
That's normal.
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Do not climb a tree to put a fledgling back in a nest - it'll
be back on the ground before you get down off the ladder. Once they
fledge, they don't return to the nest.
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If you're worried about the neighbours cats in your yard, let
them know you don't want their cats in your yard! Tuck that bird in
the nearest thick shrubbery and leave it there, and leave the area.
Take the neighbours cat home and tell them that cats belong INDOORS!
If it's your dog and your yard, just keep the dog inside until the parents
have spirited that baby to safety.
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Fledged birds CAN BE returned to the area where they were
found, several days later, and will rejoin their flock. Wear gloves
when handling birds.
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It is NOT TRUE that a nestling or fledgling bird will be
rejected by the parents because it smells a human. Think about how
close to us birds live. They already know what we smell like, even
though they have very limited ability to smell things.
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If you're concerned that there are too many cats roaming
around outside, it's time to do something about that problem. Contact
your local SPCA for assistance. Feral and neglected family cats that
are allowed to roam the neighbourhoods kill thousands of wild birds and
small mammals each year. These are devastating losses to wildlife.
Cats are not natural predators to wildlife. They are domestic animals
that belong indoors.
BIRDS OF PREY
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Finding an injured or grounded owl or other bird of prey on
the ground, does not mean 'it's tame' and safe for you to pick up. You
can be seriously injured in doing so. Birds of prey have razor sharp
talons for piercing their prey and can easily puncture your face, fingers or
arms. Great horned owls for example, have some 600 lbs/sq in pressure
in their grip. If they pierce a tendon in your hand, you may lose the
use of that hand.
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Finding a bird of prey laying on the ground on it's back, and
attempting to pick it up while it's feet and talons are facing you, is
dangerous. Even if it is injured, in a split second it can strike at
you with both feet and cause damage. NEVER PICK UP a bird of prey that
is laying on it's back.
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It is a very common mistake to find a small bird of prey, an
owl for example, and mistake it for a 'baby bird'. Some of our native
owls, are naturally small (saw whet, screech owl, etc.) Being 'small'
doesn't signify that they are babies.
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If you find a nestling baby bird of prey, it may or may not
have it's eyes open. It is imperative that you make every effort to
get it back into it's nest or make an artificial platform nest for it and
allow the parents to continue to feed it until it fledges. Contact a
reputable facility for assistance with this. In Niagara, contact the
Owl Research Foundation in Vineland for advice.
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If you find a flegling bird of prey, leave it. Leave
the area and allow the parents to coax it to a safe area. They will
take care of it if you just give them half a chance.
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Never assume that a bird of prey is just 'mellow' because it
is not acting aggressively towards you or trying to defend itself. It
may be that it is momentarily stunned from a collision with a building or a
vehicle, and when it recovers, the last place you'll want it to be is either
in your lap, or on your kitchen table while you are snapping photos or
playing show and tell with friends and neighbours. It is very dangerous to
do this.
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Birds of prey DO NOT eat hamburger, liver, chicken or steak.
Most of these foods are laced with antibiotics and are totally unsuitable
for food sources for wild birds of prey. Have you ever observed a red
tailed hawk for instance, taking down a cow in a field for it's dinner?
WATERBIRDS
Ducks, Geese.
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Very often they will nest in what seems to be the most
inappropriate area. It could be the top of your pool cover, a dividing strip
in a mall parking lot, someone's garden, etc. We seem shocked to see
them there because it's not near water, where we think they should be.
If left alone, their young will hatch and they will lead them (on webbed
feet) to the nearest body of water.
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Should you find a duckling or gosling on it's own, likely it
just didn't keep up with mom or got distracted on the way to the water.
Find the nearest body of water, and look for other ducklings or goslings
like it, and release it in the water. It will join that flock.
FEEDING BABY BIRDS
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NEVER EVER feed a baby bird or give it water.
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Birds DO NOT eat bread soaked in milk. Ask yourself
when was the last time you ever saw a bird shopping at a grocery store for
bread and milk for their young?
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AVOID going on the internet to find a 'recipe' to feed to the
bird. You'll kill it.
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Each individual species has specific dietary needs.
They do not all 'eat worms'. They do not all 'eat cat food'.
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Bottom line? It's illegal for you to keep any wild
animal or bird for the purpose of rehabilitation without being authorized by the
Ministry of Natural Resources, and by the Canadian Wildlife Services.
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Keeping an injured bird that will never fly again in
captivity for the rest of its life is inhumane. You can never take the wild
instincts out of that bird. So long as it is alive, it will
automatically want to be with its own kind and it is cruel to physically
prevent it from doing that. If it cannot fly, and forage for it's own
food, breed with its own species, to migrate when nature tells it that it's
time, then it deserves to have a humane euthanasia to prevent any further
suffering. It may be entertaining to you, but it's sheer torture for that
bird.
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