| One time or another, almost everyone comes
in contact with an injured adult songbird or a hatchling, either fallen
out of the nest, or also injured. The initial care given these birds will
many times determine whether they live or die. As with all wildlife, shock
will kill a bird long before a wound. Upon finding a bird, care should be
given, not to handle it more than absolutely necessary. In the wild, the
only time wildlife is grabbed is when it is about to be eaten, so the more
it is handled the deeper into shock it will go and more than likely die.
As soon as it is picked up, check for injuries, then place it in a towel,
taking care that there are no loose threads that can entangle the birds
legs or neck, then put it in a box or similar container that can be
covered and put into a dark, quiet, and warm place until you can contact
your local wildlife rehabilitator to take it. If it has been attacked by a
cat the wounds will always become infected and will need to be taken to a
veterinarian for an antibiotic. Any wildlife will have a far better chance
of survival in the hands of someone experienced in caring for them rather
than a novice. If, however, there is no one in your area to take it to,
then all you can do is try to care for it yourself.
First of all, when
is it appropriate to pick up a bird and “rescue it”? An adult bird, unable
to fly is obviously in need of help. On the other hand, a young bird on
the ground may or may not be in distress. If it is obviously very young
and fallen out of the nest, you should intervene. If the parents are in
evidence and attempting to feed it on the ground, then you should attempt
to either put the bird back into the nest if possible, or create a
substitute nest to keep the hatchling safe from predators and allow the
parents to continue to feed and care for the babies. This can be done by
putting nest material into a hanging plant pot, hang it as close to the
original nest as possible and leave it for the parents to take over from
there. The main thing at this point is to keep it high enough to keep cats
and other predators from getting to it. The maternal instinct is very
strong and as long as the parents can find the babies and they are not
under undue stress from loud noises, etc, they will continue to feed and
care for their young.
If on the other hand, the young are on the ground, very active, flying
around, close to the ground, with parents in evidence, then they have
fledged the nest and are on the ground, with their parent’s supervision,
learning to hunt for their food and gaining their survival skills and
should be left alone.
This does pose a rather dicey problem since neighborhood cats are
usually allowed to roam at will and can decimate an entire family of baby
birds. If it is your cat or a neighbor’s cat try to keep them inside until
the babies are not on the ground anymore. This is usually a matter of two
or three days. If all attempts to get a baby bird back into the nest, or
to clear the area of predators fail, then it will be necessary to hand
rear it. By the time a baby bird has fledged the nest it is wild and very
difficult if not impossible to hand raise due to the stress of being
handled and caged; therefore, every attempt should be made to let the
natural process play out.
Proper diet for a baby bird is absolutely crucial to its survival.
Without a balanced diet the baby will not thrive and will get metabolic
bone disease, or rickets. Once this condition sets in, unless corrected
immediately, it will be irreversible. If a healthy, active baby suddenly
does not stand on its legs and behaves sluggishly, then you MUST adjust
the diet as soon as possible.
At the end of this chapter is a list of diets for both insectivores and
seed eaters. Baby birds should be fed every 30 minutes during the daylight
hours, then covered up and warm for the night. Mother does not feed at
night. Rehydrate with 50/50 Gatorade and filtered water, or Pedialyte,
both purchased at the supermarket.
It is also important to keep the baby warm. By the time a human comes
in contact with wildlife it is usually dehydrated and the body temperature
is very low. The easiest way to warm them up is to sit their box on a low
heating pad or a lamp with an incandescent bulb about two feet away.
Monitor the temperature often until you feel it is right, so that they do
not get too hot. If it’s on a heating pad make sure that they are on a
thick towel, so that the bottom of their container does not get too hot.
Do not try to feed until you are able to get the body temperature up and
is showing signs of recovery. If you attempt to feed a cold and listless
baby, it may not swallow and the food will go into the lungs and kill it.
If, on the other hand, it is a nest of hungry babies, with mouths wide
open, then choose a diet at the end of the chapter and feed immediately.
If there is a question of an injury or illness in the baby bird there are
usually a number of vets in most areas who are willing to look at wildlife
for you and provide medication.
If you are fortunate enough to raise a healthy baby bird to
adolescence, the next step is just as important as the proper diet,
perhaps more so, because if not done right, all of you efforts will have
been for nothing.
When a young bird fledges the nest, it stays with the parents, in a
flock, most of the summer. It learns slowly all of the skills necessary to
survive on its own. When hand raised by a human, it has to learn these
skills on its own, which takes much longer than in the wild. The bird may
look like an adult, but will still rely on you to feed it. You MUST be
sure the bird is eating well on its own. It may continue to open its mouth
for you to feed it even though it is eating on its own. At some point you
must ignore this just as the mother does and wean it away from being hand
fed as long as you are positive it is getting enough to eat on its own.
Before release can be considered, your bird must be fully adult and
begin to show signs of becoming wild. If you try to take your bird from
its cage and simply put it outside, it will not know what to do. Release
is a slow process and some birds adapt quicker than others. You will need
to slowly acclimate it to the outdoors and it will more than likely come
back to its cage in the evening for several days. If you’re not able or
not willing to let the bird go into the wild at it’s own pace, then you
should find someone who can do it for you, otherwise you’re going to have
a bird sitting on a limb in your yard, squawking for you to fly up and
feed it, and it might not make it overnight without the instinct to go for
cover. Food and water should be put out close to the old release cage
until they stop coming back to it, which may take several days. Release is
risky even when everything goes perfectly. There are no guarantees, but
wild birds have no quality of life if they cannot live free.
If you have an outside cage big enough to allow the bird to flutter
around in the daytime and get used to being outside make sure the mesh is
1/2inch or less. Anything larger will allow snakes to get in or cats and
raccoons to stick their paws through. They should be brought in at night
to keep predators from climbing on the cage and literally scaring them to
death.
Click here to see recipes and advice for
songbirds
Click here to see the list of diets for many wild birds.
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